Harry Potter and the forced Hero
by Kaeim
Summary: Harry Potter was abandoned at a early age, but was found and given to a local street gang, how will Dumbledore and co. react to a fully independant Potter, uncooperative Potter, a drug taking, hard rock playing, Muggle Minded Potter? Read and find out!
1. Abandonment

Harry Potter and the forced Hero

**Harry ****Potter and the forced Hero**

A six year old Harry screamed as he was thrown into the cupboard again. His back hit the back of the cupboard, where the majority of his bruises were located. Another one of his scabs broke again, and fresh blood poured down his back, again.

It was often this way for poor Harry. His life, ever since the age of one year old, had been one of cruelty, punishments and slavery. His family, the Dursleys, hated his guts. For some reason, they called him a freak, scum, and was worth, quite simply, absolutely nothing. He hated his life and he hated life itself. Often, he held a knife, a small kitchen one, to his throat, begging his body to just allow him to cut himself. But he never could.

He hated himself at times. He was so weak, so soft; worth nothing, just like he was told by the Dursleys. He was beat a lot, by the Dursleys. No, not just the Dursleys, by Dudley's friends as well. He'd asked why he deserved this once, but he received a punch in the face for his troubles.

No, nothing was worth this, this pain. The simplest thing to do would be to just die. But no, that fate wouldn't be for Harry, no matter how much he'd sometimes wished for it. No, he had a plan to escape, at least, one day. Suddenly, the door slammed wide open, and Harry was dragged out by a big-fisted hand by his shoulder. He winced, that'll leave a few marks.

'What the hell do you think your doing, boy?!' His big fat uncle screamed at him.

'N- nothing, un- uncle,' Harry stuttered.

He uncle turned red with rage, and hit him as hard as he could on the arm. 'Shut up you little shit! You've been lazy again, sleeping in that cupboard while your aunt does all your work for you!'

Harry attempted to deny it, but was stopped from speaking by another hit on his shoulder. Harry whimpered as his uncle leaned in, his big, fat, red face directly spitting into Harry's own face.

'You filthy little toerag, get out!' He whacked Harry again in the stomach, causing him to double over in pain. Harry looked at his uncle in terror as he realized what his uncle meant.

'But please, please Sir, don't make me go, I'm sorry!' Tears started to fall out of his eyes as he pleaded with his uncle to not throw him out. His uncle simply sneered at him, grabbing him by the back of his shirt and dragging him outside.

He walked over to his car, opening up the boot and throwing his nephew inside it, closing and locking it shut. A desperate crying came from the boot. His uncle simply ignored it, walking over to the driver's seat and getting in, starting the car and driving away from Privet Drive.

Four hours later, Vernon finally stopped just outside of London in a wasteland. Several unsavoury looking men sat around a burning barrel. Vernon snorted at the place, thinking it was just the kind of place that the boy and his parents were suited for, no doubt. A delicious irony, he thought.

Getting out of the car he opened up the boot and picked Harry out of it by his hair with as little care as he would with a sack of potatoes. Indeed Harry was like a sack of potatoes, deprived of oxygen, yet he had something a sack of potatoes didn't, he was halfway conscious and his muscles were cramping from being locked in the cramped boot for so long.

Grabbing the boy by his hair, he threw him out of the boot, before turning his back on him. Going back into the car, he drove off, not even looking back at the nephew that his family-in-laws had left in his and Petunia's care. Not again, for a long time, would he ever cast his mind back upon the boy who had for a brief period of time lived with them.

One of the men sneered at the car leaving the wasteland, and wandered over to where the car had stopped. Maybe there had been something left behind that the man could flog. Standing where the car had been, the man looked around before seeing a leg.

Frowning, he walked over, hoping that it wasn't another dead body. Christ knows they got enough of them around here without being framed for yet another one! The leg was followed by another leg, then a body, and then a head. The man stood over a dark-haired boy. He looked young, surely not older than eight years old, if even that.

He crouched over the prone body, rolling him onto his side. His eyes widened. A clearly abused boy was laying there, his glasses hanging on one ear, and his eyes glazed over. He swore, picking the boy up and running over to his shack. He cursed himself, he had too much of a soft heart, he knew that, and yet he couldn't help it.

First things first, he needed to get the lad awake. Taking hold of his flask full of whiskey, he poured a small amount down the boy's throat, causing the lad to cough up most of the drink, but still awakening him. He looked around in terror, before focusing on the man, and moaning in fright.

He couldn't blame the lad really; he knew that he wasn't a pretty picture. Scars all over his face from the result of fight clubs and bar fights, an unshaven beard and long lanky hair. It was a harsh life really, but it was the best that he could find.

'Lad, tell me your name.'

The boy stuttered, 'B- Boy...'

The man raised an eyebrow, yes, the lad must've been abused, it was clear. The fact he gave his name as "Boy" was enough for him. He crouched down. 'Lad, I may not know what your name is, but I can tell you now, it's not boy.'

The boy stuttered out another name, 'Fr- freak.'

The man winced. If there was one thing that he hated most of all, it was abusive parents. It was the reason why he was out here in the first place. He groaned, 'no, no it's nothing like that either. Do you have any names that aren't offensive?'

The boy shrugged. 'Don't know, sir.' He winced in anticipation of a hit, but it never came. The man still looked at him, plainly thinking hard.

'Well, the thing that stands out about you most to me is your eyes, so I'll call you…Emerald!' The man beamed at Emerald, who hesitantly smiled back.

'Sir, what's your name?'

The man groaned. 'Please, mate, don't call me Sir. It makes me sound like an old codger, and to me, that's the worst fate around.' He rubbed his face as Emerald giggled at him. The man then looked at Emerald again. 'My name's Dave, so just call me that from now on.' As the boy nodded, Dave sighed as he saw the bruises on the boy's arm.

'Lad, do you have any more bruises like that on your arm?' The boy instantly covered the bruise up and turned his face away from Dave's own face, shaking his head fervently. Dave placed his hand on the boy's back in a friendly manner, only to feel the boy winch and gasp in pain. He moved his hand back instantly, worry on his face.

'Take off your shirt.' He said to the boy, who again shook his head. The man allowed a touch of anger to enter his voice. 'Take it off!' The boy instantly withered under the tone of voice and complied. Dave, feeling guilty enough already was shocked. The entity of Emerald's back was like one big massive bruise. The man was sure that there were torn muscles, and there was a mix of bloody scabs everywhere, as though a belt had been taken to it. He swore, and called over another man.

The man came over to Dave and Emerald, 'what's this then?' the man asked, confused.

'You used to be a doctor, right?'

'It was actually a nurse, but why?'

'Take a look at this.'

The man came over and instantly swore. He turned to Dave, 'has the kid been abused or something?'

Dave nodded, 'As far as I can tell, he has. He claims that his name was Boy and Freak, and there are many bruises all over his body.'

The man nodded sadly, 'What kind of fucking world do we live in that someone would hurt a kid like this? He can't be more than seven years old!' He sighed. 'What you going to do with the boy then?'

Dave sighed as well, 'I know a few people like him. They can look after him; they owe me a few favours anyway.' He looked at the boy, knowing that what awaited him was a hard life, a life of fighting, of thievery, of prejudice and eventually, an early death. 'Does he need a doctor?'

The man shook his head, 'I wouldn't worry, the blood is mainly from broken scabs, which will easily heal themselves. As for those bruises, they're near the surface of the skin; it'll hurt for a small while, but nothing permanent.'

Dave nodded, and picked up the boy, and started on his journey towards the city of London. He sighed, knowing instinctively that this was going to be a long, long journey.


	2. New life

Harry Potter and the forced hero

**Harry Potter and the forced hero**

The loud sounds of the nightclub's music from the band blasted throughout the huge underground hall where hundreds of people were packed, all of them dancing. The current band playing was called "Love's blood", and this was often their more frequented venue for gigs.

The lead singer screamed the lyrics into the hall, his fingers plucking the electric-guitar with the eased skill of an expert. The guitar, while clearly battered, was held tenderly, almost lovingly, by the singer. One side of his face was covered with a black hood, while the other half was obscured by a tattoo of a serpent, glaring with plain evil intent at everyone. His clothes were clearly ripped and dirty, but it revealed a perfectly sculptured six-Pac and muscled arms.

His real name wasn't known, but the name he went by, in public and on the stage, was Emerald.

It was common to find many ravers, after the night had ended and the band had long disappeared into their private home, to gossip about the young talented singer/musician and who he was. Some of the rumours, even encouraged by Emerald himself to keep the mystery about him going, was that he had been a rich kid who had run away from home, or that he had once been in a popular band which had discarded him, or simply, that he was a runaway.

But meanwhile, whatever and whoever he was, the young man, or rather, boy, was screaming out words of anger and hate, he screamed of loss, of pain and of agony. And the crowd loved it! Wherever he was going to perform, you could guarantee that there would at least be five hundred people there, if not more waiting outside to dance. It was commonly believed that he would be the next greatest rockstar in that area.

Emerald finally played his last note on his guitar, and let the last vocal word linger before finishing. The crowd went wild, they screamed for an encore, for a replay, even for his bed that night, the demands screamed up at him from the mouths of girls and boys alike! Emerald merely chuckled at the requests to bed him. Normally, he'd never have such problems accepting these offers, but tonight, he'd already promised a particular woman that he'd be with her tonight.

Whistling as he left, he wondered where the hell that damned owner was with his money. He walked over to one of the bouncers, who seemed to be jealous as he took in Emerald's almost perfect body. Emerald sneered and crossed his arms over his chest.

'Where's your boss?' Emerald said in a hoarse voice. His throat was always like this after a concert. The bouncer pointed at a door. Nodding his thanks, Emerald walked to the door, and without knocking, opened it.

The manager had been watching the television, his feet up on the desk and a Cuban cigar in his mouth. As soon as the door opened, the manager sat up, his face intense with fury. 'What the hell is this?!' he demanded, 'What the hell do you want?'

Emerald glared at him as he walked right up to the man, invading his personal space. He spoke simply and clearly, 'You have yet to pay me and my band for the past two concerts, this is the third time.'

Grumbling, the man got up and opened up a small safe, taking out a ball of money and tossing it to Emerald. 'There, you happy?' He demanded.

Emerald scanned through it quickly, before looking at the man in anger. 'You're eight hundred quid short.'

The man swelled up, 'Now see here-' was as far as he got before he was grabbed by his shirt and lifted from the ground. Emerald snarled at him.

'You owe me 1200 pounds, now, we've made you at least £5000 pounds in the last three concerts, and we've been kind in letting you delay the payments, but not any more.' He drew his face close to the manager's own, who was sweating by now. 'So where's our money?' He demanded.

The manager whimpered and nodded towards the safe. Emerald smirked, and nutted the man suddenly in the face, breaking his nose before he threw him into a corner. Going to the safe, he grabbed a bag and put all the money he could inside it, before leaving the office with a final smirk towards the manager who was now unconscious. Picking up his guitar, he walked away towards a restaurant where his interview would take place.

--

'So then, Emerald,' she enhanced the last word. 'Please, tell the readers of "Upcoming and Wondrous Music Stars" about yourself, so first things first, when were you born?'

_Flashback_

'_Happy birthday, Emerald!' Everyone cheered._

_Emerald looked around, pleased. A big sign was by the door, saying "Happy Birthday, Emerald, on this day, September 1__st__!"_

_End Flashback_

Emerald shrugged, 'I never really knew my birthday, but i have one every September 1st.

The woman nodded. 'And how old are you?

'Eighteen,' Emerald lied with ease. He had no wish to go to any school, even when that letter had come on his eleventh birthday; he'd shown no interest of going. Who'd want to go to a place like that? He'd found that out just from the letter, when it was clear that the weirdo didn't use normal ways of getting messages to people, such as email, but they used owls!

The woman nodded, writing down notes before looking at Emerald again. 'So, could you describe your childhood to us? Any specific memories?'

Harry thought back.

_Flashback_

'_Come on!' Rick screamed at Emerald as the red and blue flashing lights screeched to a halt outside of the bank. 'Shit! He swore as one of the security officers pulled out his gun and aimed at Emerald._

_Not sparing a single second, Emerald pointed his gun at the security officer and fired three bullets into his chest. He collapsed without any cry. Emerald grabbed the bag full of money and ran after Rick and Shell, leaving behind the screams and cries of the people who he had left behind._

'_Come on!' Shell screamed at him as a policeman appeared in the doorway. She snapped off a few bullets at him, causing him to duck for cover as she grabbed Emerald's hand and dragged him out of the bank and out of the alleyway into a waiting van where Dave was sitting in the driver's seat, ready to pull away at any moment._

_Once__ they were in the van, Dave turned the key in the ignition, peeling away from the curb. Emerald looked around confused, two members were missing 'Where's Slit and Jackson?' Emerald asked, concerned over one of his friends. Rick shook his head, 'sorry Emerald, but he didn't make it. And Jackson's disappeared, we don't know where he is.'_

_Emerald swore as he put his head in his hands, before straightening, his face like a rock, no emotion shown whatsoever. 'Collateral damage,' he said simply, no emotion anywhere in his voice._

_Shell nodded, holding Emerald's hand and putting her head on his shoulder, 'collateral damage,' she repeated. She looked down the road and pointed. 'There's Jackson!' She said, her voice full of surprise. Everyone looked where she was pointing, and they saw a boy, only around eleven years old. He was being chased by two police officers, and they were faster than he was._

_Emerald sighed and held out his hands. Rick placed a rifle in his hands and he aimed down the sight. Aiming at Jackson's chest, he sighed sadly. 'Goodbye, Jackson,' he said, and fired one shot._

_One shot. That was all. But it was enough to blow a hole the size of Emerald's fist in the chest of Jackson, who immediately collapsed. The two policemen instantly ran to him, and looked at the road. But it was nowhere to be seen. It had just…just gone._

_Emerald sighed, he didn't know why it happened, but sometimes he could make things happen, like the van go invisible. But nothing helped when a valuable member had to be put down. It was for the good of them all._

'_Collateral damage,' he whispered._

_End flashback_

Emerald sighed, 'none that I really want to share, Ma'am.'

The reporter looked a little disappointed, but wrote down what he'd said anyway. She then looked at his face, still concealed by the tattoo and the hood. She grinned, 'That's a pretty cool tattoo, how'd you get it?'

Emerald smirked.

_Flashback_

'_So basically kid, you gotta have something that makes you stand out from the crowd, something that makes people fear and respect you.'_

_Emerald looked bored, 'so then what did you have in mind?'_

_The man smiled, 'this is going to hurt.'_

_Emerald__ suddenly felt a blow to the back of his head and he collapsed, unconscious. The man shook his head, 'kids today, always creating havoc, even when unconscious. Right!' He gestured to one of his men, 'help me with the lad and we'll get started.' He rubbed his hands in glee._

_End flashback_

'Well,' Emerald said, 'Let's just say that I had little knowledge of it until it had been placed on me.'

The woman now leered at him in obvious lust, 'and might you have any other tattoos anywhere else?'

Emerald smirked at her; he knew how the game was played. 'Well, I'm afraid that that's private information.'

She smirked back, 'I'm sure that I can find…some way of getting it out of you.'

Emerald chuckled. 'Well, why don't we find out how you'll do that?'

Emerald threw some money on the table and led the woman back to his private flat for a night of fun.


	3. The Past and the present

Harry Potter and the forced Hero

**Emerald**** Potter and the forced Hero**

Emerald groaned as the journalist finally left the flat. He closed the door, gratefully. God, but she was a stubborn bitch. Clingy as well. She'd bugged him as she got dressed for his number, he'd tried for fob her off, but finally he'd snapped and told the bitch where to go. It would probably affect the article, but since when had he given a fuck?

He turned around to see Shell, dressed only in a T-shirt that served to reveal more than hide it. She smirked at him, 'Had a good night, Emerald?'

He shrugged, 'not bad, and yours?'

She rolled her eyes, 'how could I have a good night when your not there with me?' She said sarcastically.

Emerald simply smirked, 'I really don't know, I mean, I am absolutely brilliant in bed.'

She laughed, 'keep telling yourself that, pretty boy.'

Emerald grinned at her, 'well,' his voice became deeper, and he said his words as though he'd said them many times before. 'Let's think back to six months ago, when you and I decided to get together for a little...R and R.' He winked at her, making her roll her eyes and blush slightly. 'The next day, who was it that could hardly walk the entire day? And if I remember correctly, it was that time when we robbed that jewellers, and got found by the Pigs, and who was it that had to carry you?' He mock-gasped, 'oh yes, little old me!'

Her face had turned a deep red now, and she was unable to look him in the eyes. Finally, she sighed and looked at Emerald, smirking. 'That was a long time ago, pretty boy. I'm pretty sure that I've grown above any tricks that you seem to stick with all the time.'

Emerald just kept smirking as he drew closer to Shell. She raised an eyebrow, but stayed where she was as Emerald grew closer, closer. Their faces were only a centimetre away from each other, she closed her eyes. And waited.

She frowned, what was going on now? She opened her eyes and stood to see an evil smirk on his face, Emerald looked into to eyes, as he burst out into laughter as he saw her shocked face. He walked past her, winking at her. 'Nice try, Shell, but you'll have to do a lot better than that.' He grinned as she flipped him. Chuckling as he went, he suddenly walked into Rick.

'Oh, hey.' Rick said. He went on before Emerald could say anything. 'Listen, I've just got a message from the bloodravens, and they need some help in "shifting" a few items. They specifically asked for you. They'll pay good money.' He said hopefully.

Emerald shrugged, 'what kind of equipment and how much are they willing to pay?'

Rick shrugged; he never really bothered to find out about the job, as long as it paid well. It had served him well in the past before. 'I dunno Emerald, if you want a guess, though, I'd say that it was weapons or drugs. Both of which we know you're good at handling,' he said, winking at him.

Emerald chuckled grimly. He knew all about it. He'd been doing it practically ever since he'd been with Rick and Shell and all the others, he'd never have survived without them. And without Dave…

_Flashback_

_Dave and Emerald leapt off the bus, the screaming conductor yelling at them as the woman who they had just pick-pocketed was dialling a number on her mobile. Dave smirked as he grabbed Emerald's arm and ran with him into an alleyway. He chuckled as he bounced the stolen purse up and down the palm of his hand. Pulling out all the cash and coins, he threw the purse with derision into a skip. He turned to Emerald and winked at him._

'_And that, my dear Emerald, is exactly how you steal a purse from someone.' He grinned at the expression on Emerald's face. His face was clearly one of conflict, of pride and of confusion, wonderment and fear. Dave's face creased slightly with worry. 'What's wrong lad? You look a bit off.' He asked as he started walking with Emerald._

'_It's just, when I was with those…those people,' Dave nodded, knowing that it was likely that Emerald would never talk about them willingly again. 'They used to take me off to church, and I was taught that it was wrong to steal and to disobey those who know better than you.'_

_Dave spat on the ground in disgust as Emerald flinched with fear. Dave immediately looked apologetic before sighing in weariness. 'Look, lad, let me ask you a question. There's a husband and a wife and the wife is dying. Now, suppose then that the cure to her illness is just next to the man, but it doesn't belong to him. The cure isn't needed by anyone else. Should the man take it to save his wife, or watch his wife die?'_

_Emerald looked at the ground, obviously thinking hard about what he had just been told. He and Dave walked down the maze of back alleyways that branched from the alley they'd just run down. Seeing the look on Emerald's face as he saw the huge amount of alleyways, he chuckled. 'The whole place is a maze lad; it's a perfect place to avoid the police and any "well-meaning" citizens.'_

_Emerald smiled, but still looked thoughtful. Finally, five minutes later, Emerald spoke out. 'I guess that if I was the husband to the wife, then I'd take the medicine for her.' He looked at Dave curiously, wondering whether he was right._

_Dave smiled at him. 'Got it in one kid, out here in the streets, no one gives a damn. If you don't steal, you starve. It's a cruel world, and the people I'm taking you to are just as bad in their own way, but the one difference between us and the rest of the world is that we give a damn. We care about our own, we look after each other, we fight for each other, and we can even damn well die for each other. Without that, we'd tear each other apart and turn the streets into a bloodbath. And that would only bring about dire consequences for all concerned.' He shuddered at the thought of what he had endured the last time the gangs came together in one last massive war...so many dead..._

_He shook his head, clearing his mind of the bad memories as he noticed that they were just outside an old building. Its windows were mostly broken, and it had obviously met bad times. He sighed, knowing that at least the people there had made an attempt to make the place look a little better.__ Walking up to a double-door, he kicked it three times and stood back, waiting for an answer._

_For several minutes, Dave and Emerald waited, David standing there patiently, while Emerald fidgeted with his legs, wondering what was going on. The waiting continued, Dave not showing any emotion, while Emerald had sat down, obviously tired of waiting. They waited another five minutes before the door finally opened, and a teenager, looking only around 15 years old greeted them, with a baseball bat in his hand. He looked around cautiously, before his face broke into a grin and he embraced Dave with one arm._

'_Dave! You old bastard, where've you been?' The boy grinned at Dave, who broke out into a smile. 'Why, I don't think that me and the other's have seen you ever since you helped us out with that little job that we had going!'_

_Dave smirked, 'Yes, that little job was a godsend, but even so, I'm still owed a favour by you lot.'_

_The boy rolled his eyes, 'fine then, ask away.'_

_Dave nodded at Emerald. 'I need a place for this one, he's young, but he shows some promise.'_

_The boy eyed up Emerald before turning back to Dave. 'He's a bit small, but he could work out. Is this going to be permanent or what?'_

_Dave shrugged, 'I don't know really, this was the first place that I thought of when I found him. You've taken in children like him before, and like I said, he does show some promise. He could be useful.'_

_The boy sighed, 'fine, we'll take him. You wanna explain the rules to him? Or do I have to?'_

_Dave shook his head, 'nah, I'll tell him.' He turned to Emerald. 'Right, there's some rules to follow while you live here, firstly, do whatever the leader tells you to do. Second, show no remorse. Third and finally, never squeal on them. Break the rule, then at the very least they throw you out, the worst, well…lets just say that it won't be pretty.' Emerald nodded._

_Dave sighed as he lightly pushed Emerald towards the doorway, before turning on his feet and walking away; He look back once and gave Emerald an encouraging smile. Emerald gave a small wave as he walked through the doorway, before suddenly being grabbed by the boy and dragged through into another room._

_Dragging Emerald into a big empty room, bare of any furniture whatsoever, he threw him on the ground and stood above him, his arms folded. 'Right, kid,' he growled. 'Strip.' Emerald flinched, he'd been told to do that before by his uncle when he was drunk, but somehow he'd always managed to escape. Seeing the look on Emerald's face, he grimaced. 'Get your filthy mind out of the gutter!' He shuddered, before smiling slightly. 'Look, I know I'm extremely handsome, but I don't bend that way, and even if I did, then it would someone a lot older and handsomer than you.' He smirked at Emerald at that point. 'I've just gotta make sure that you don't have any devices on you that could betray the gang, so just strip off. Ok?'_

_Emerald nodded, pulling off his clothes._

_When the boy had finished checking him, he nodded in satisfaction. 'Well, your not bugged at least, though whether you prove to be trustworthy is another question.' He smiled at Emerald, 'Call me Octo.'_

_Emerald smiled back slightly, 'I'm Emerald.'_

_Octo__ gestured towards another door at the end of the room, 'Come and meet the gang.' He opened the door, and a huge room was revealed. It rather looked like a hall! There were sofas, chairs, sleeping bags, all sorts! There was even a large TV there, although its front was broken. At least twenty people were there. Only a few looked up, but the majority of them simply ignored him and continued doing whatever it was that they were doing. Emerald looked around in awe as he followed Octo into yet another room. He suddenly, by instinct, caught some old and baggy clothes that Octo had thrown at him. 'Put those things on, and you can meet the rest of the gang.'_

_As Octo went outside to talk to the others, Emerald threw on his new clothing, before nervously walking outside into the hall, where Octo waved him over to where he and two children were talking. 'Emerald, this is Rick,' he gestured to a brown-haired floppy fringed boy who grinned at him. 'And this is Shell.' He gestured to the girl, a blonde-haired girl who simply nodded at him. 'Right, you two make him welcome, and try not to cause too much trouble like you did last time!' He grinned at the pair who simply snickered as they each grabbed Emerald's wrist and dragged him off._

'_Hey, I'm Rick!' Rick grinned at him as they dragged Emerald outside. He nodded to Shell, 'And that's Shell.' The two of them suddenly stopped in their tracks and turned to Emerald. 'So what's your skill?'_

_Emerald looked confused, 'skill?' he asked curiously._

_Shell rolled her eyes. 'You know, skill? As in what you're good at while you're with us?' At Emerald's confused look, she looked at Rick incredulously. 'Jesus Christ, what rock did you climb out of?' She glared at Emerald._

_Rick waved her down, 'Shell, do you always have to be so goddamned thick-headed? You know that he's only just come to us, it's hardly a surprise that he's a rookie now, is it?' She shrugged, but still looked a little disgusted by Emerald's words. Rick rolled his eyes and turned to Emerald. 'Well, I guess we should try and find your skill then. Let's try a bit of thieving, you hungry?' he asked. Emerald nodded his head. 'Well then, if I'm right, there's a Chatwins' on a small street, hardly anyone goes along it.' He smirked, 'and that fact that the woman there is half blind and never realises who we are makes it a perfect place to go to.' Winking at Emerald, he grabbed both Shell and Emerald by the sleeves of their shirts and dragged them away._

--

Emerald followed the unidentified gang member as they grabbed boxes and loaded them onto the van. Dressed completely in black, he was sure that no one could see them in this darkness. He smirked, this was all too easy. And with the money being paid by the paymaster, he'd do anything. Seriously, who the hell paid £500 quid for just an hour's work? And when you put it like that, who cared what it was?

Suddenly, one of the gang members carrying a box fell to the ground, dropping the box which broke, throwing out weird looking sticks. Sparks of green and red flew from the tips of them, falling all over the ground. One of them fell at Emerald's feet. Curious, he picked it up, suddenly feeling a great golden rush of warmness through his body. Grinning slightly at the feeling, he hid it in his back pocket.

The gang member who had dropped the box was scrabbling on the ground, grabbing the sticks when suddenly a figure appeared. Dressed in dark swishy robes and wearing a silver mask, he carried one of the strange sticks. Looking at the mess on the floor, he turned to the unfortunate gang member who was still on his knees, his mouth wide open and staring at the masked man. The man pointed the stick towards the man and muttered something. A green light enveloped the gang member and he fell down, not moving.

One of his gang members ran over to him and felt for a pulse in his neck. He shook his head as he felt no pulse. Suddenly, at an unseen signal, the gang members pulled out various weapons, pointing them at the masked man. He held up a hand, 'you will be compensated for your loss, but I will not tolerate stupidity!' He said in a deep guttural voice. The gang members, looking uneasy, put away their weapons. 'Now get back to work!' He hissed, before disappearing in the dark. Emerald didn't know much about this man, but all he knew was that his stupid scar on his forehead suddenly started to hurt. That was odd; it had never done that before...


	4. Discovered!

Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

**Discovery**

Emerald sighed as he stared at the strange stick that had inspired such feelings within him. It just felt amazing, it felt greater than a joint, than being drunk, Christ, it was even better than sex was! But he just couldn't get it to work again for some reason…when he picked it up, there was nothing. No feeling of any kind. Once again, it was just a highly decorated stick that didn't do anything. Putting it carefully on the table, he pulled out a beer from the small fridge that he owned, opened it and drank deeply from it. Never the mind that it was only around eight in the morning, he needed it.

What the hell was that weapon that the man used to kill that gang member? It looked like the stick he was carrying now, but how the hell did it work? When Emerald had to move the body, there was no marking on him whatsoever. Only his face showed any signs of emotion, pure terror. But on the rest of his body, there were no markings, at all! What the hell was it?

It couldn't have been poison, because the man didn't force anything down his throat, and if he had used an airborne device, then surely it would've affected the other gang members as well. It couldn't have been any conventional weapon, because there was no marking on his body. So basically, that ruled out guns, strangulation and the rest of them. Emerald threw the empty beer bottle into the bin in rage. Whatever it was, the gang needed it. Ever since they had been run out of their original home by scavengers, they had been forced to live like Squatters. It was by pure luck that they had found the abandoned flat. They had easily found furniture and everything else needed. Rick had shown an unusual skill in electricity, and had managed to "divert" some power from the opposite flats to this one. And Shell had been quite persuasive in persuading some government men to look the other way.

He smirked as Shell came in. Was it just him, or did every time he thought about her, she somehow popped up everywhere! Shell saw his smirk, and met it with a raised eyebrow. God, but she was gorgeous. Emerald had little difficulty in admitting that. Her looks were like that of an aristocrat, dignified and cultured, but in reality, she was a rebel. She drank, smoked and could fight with the best of them.

'Something the matter, oh my dear Emerald?' She said with the utmost sarcasm. Another point in her favour, he appreciated that kind of humour.

Emerald met her raised eyebrow with a look of indifference. His face became a blank mask, no emotion showed on his face. To most people, it intimidated them. However, to Shell, one of Emerald's inner circle of allies and friends, it was no obstacle. He had used it many times on her, and the effect had just worn off a long time ago.

Ignoring the fact he had yet to say anything, Shell went on. 'So then, Mr. Big Rock Star, how do you like your new fame now then?' At Emerald's slightly confused look, she threw a newspaper onto the table in front of Emerald's face, also covering the strange stick that was still on the table. Emerald mentally thanked whatever gods there were that she hadn't seen it, or at least, hadn't commented on it. He picked up the newspaper to see what it said.

_Antisocial Hero_

_By famed reporter, Rita Skeeter_

_The acclaimed "Emerald" just two nights ago graciously joined me for an interview. From what I learnt, this particular rockstar has had quite a past, although he remains very tight-lipped about his personal life. However, what did this particular reporter manage to pick up about the elusive Emerald? I believe that he had a very troubled childhood, constantly bullied by his peers, hated by the authorities and worshipped by his fellow friends, if any. All this clearly points to a troubled young man, with a complex personality._

_A man with a snake tattoo on the side of his face, he allows very few people to see the rest of him. However, as flirtatious as this reporter may sound, there wasn't much left unseen after this reporter had finished with him._

_However, all points on his life aside, this reporter found the music which he played very strongly, the lyrics filled with anger and hatred. The music is definitely for those of you who follow heavy rock, and those of you who don't mind what it is._

_Personally, I'd give it an 8/10 for the music, the lyrics and the sheer hotness that is this Emerald. To all you ladies out there, he currently has no attachments with a girl (or a boy), and he's free. The next concert will be tonight, starting at 9 in the evening, and ending at an unspecified time. I hope to see you all there._

_By Rita Skeeter_

Emerald stared at the newspaper in shock, while Shell struggled to contain her giggles. Finally, he snapped out of it, and just looked up, his face full of bewilderment and shock. Shell suddenly burst out laughing, unable to keep a straight face any longer.

'Aww…are you reliving your troubled past? I mean, it's only to be expected with your problems. I mean, you're hated by your peers, the authorities and of course, you have no friends.' She burst out into giggles, unable to stop laughing as long as the look on Emerald's face was there. Which seemed as though it would never end. Emerald was dumbfounded. How the hell had that woman, Skeeter, came up with that story? Bloody hell, but she really was a weirdo. He got up and grabbed another beer. If anyone else had read it today, he was really going to need it. Suddenly Rick came in, and seeing Emerald, a mischievous smile came onto his face.

Coming up from behind Emerald, he started to massage his shoulders. Emerald started, but was held in place by Rick. 'There, there, Emerald. It's alright, let it all out. You're a troubled young man, it's alright.' He said in a mock sympathy voice. Emerald growled at the two of them. Rick still had his evil grin on his face, while Shell was literally on the floor now, roaring with laughter. Emerald got up; clutching his beer bottle as though it was the only sane thing left that he could hold on to and walked through into the other room.

There, he was met by a round of raucous laughter by the rest of the gang who had just finished reading the newspaper. At least fifteen people were in the room, all of them laughing their heads off. Emerald groaned as he walked through back into the kitchen, where Rick and Shell now wore the same smirk on their faces, barely containing their laughter. He was going to need more than one drink today.

Just as he reached for his third beer of the morning, Shell slapped his hand, causing him to drop it. He stared at her angrily. 'Fucking hell, Shell. What the hell was that for? You wasted a bloody beer!'

She smirked at him. 'Oh my dear little Emerald, while right now you're really pissed off and angry at me, but believe me, you'll be even more so if you have to get on the stage tonight hung-over. It'll also be a lot worst if you're still pissed when you start playing. While the clientele of our little rave is not the most refined of people, I sincerely doubt they'll take it in good spirit when you slur the words and forget whole verses.' She picked up the beer and opened it. 'Now, if you'll excuse me, _I _need a drink.' She smirked at Emerald and started drinking from the bottle.

Emerald growled and turned to look at Rick with an exasperated look when he saw that Rick was also drinking a can. Seeing Emerald's look, he smirked and held up his bottle in a mocking cheers. At Emerald's infuriated look, he winked at him. 'What? I needed a drink too.' He clinked his bottle with Shell's who both simultaneously smirked at him. Emerald rolled his eyes and stalked off to his bedroom, followed by the laughing and catcalls from the rest of the gang.

Around a couple of hours later, it was eleven in the morning, and Emerald was bored shitless. There was literally nothing to do! Forbidden to drink, he wasn't in the mood to practice his lyrics or his guitar again, and worst of all, he'd run out of cigarettes! He was frustrated, mentally and physically. He needed to get out of the flat, get into a few fights, maybe pick up a girl; the only problem was the time! To people like him, the middle of the morning was basically the Witching hour! Nothing happened. The clubs weren't open, the people were either working or were sleeping, and the gangs rested before going on yet another night of fun.

He sighed, lying on his back on his couch. What the hell would he do now? There was nowhere open that was half decent. Still, there were some places open to him… he got up from his couch and got on the floor, prying loose a floorboard. Inside of the floor was a secret compartment that Emerald had installed ages ago, soon after he and the rest of the gang had moved in. Inside of it were several items that he treasured most. A ticket from his first concert, a bracelet from his first girl, a small pickaxe that Dave had given him a long time ago…he sighed at the memory. He hadn't seen Dave in at least four years; he didn't know whether he was alive anymore. He sincerely hoped he was though; he had done so much for him. But the most important thing that he had in his possession, however, was his own private stash of money. At the last count, he had £275 pounds. And right now, he was pretty sure that he could spare around ten quid on some food in a decent café. And he definitely needed to buy some more cigarettes. He deserved it, especially after that article this morning. He shuddered as he put his favoured cloak on, hiding the side of his face, allowing the snake tattoo to come into prominence. He smirked, it was his little trademark.

Walking through the flat, ignoring the sniggers and the inevitable remarks of jest, Emerald left the flat, walked through the mazes of alleyways and into the main street where hardly any gang members went, for fear of recognition and imprisonment by the authorities. However, Emerald, thanks to contacts in the police, knew for a fact that there was no file on him. Until that changed, he was taking full advantage of that. And one particular part of that would be going out in public where he could just enjoy himself.

Walking into a café, he sat himself down, ordered a cup of coffee and a sandwich. He smirked at several people who stared at him openly because of his tattoo on the side of his face, and the blatantly obvious muscles that were under his clothes. In particular, two girls whispered to each other, looking at him before quickly turning back and giggling. He eyed the pair of them up.

One girl was a white blonde girl, her long hair was clearly straightened, and it hung freely down her back. She was a very pretty girl, but was clearly an attention seeker, as to get her hair and her make up done like that, it would take several hours. He'd learnt that from when Shell went through a period, and had conscripted both him and Rick. The other girl was clearly Indian. Her hair was worn in a ponytail. While Emerald had never really managed to see the difference in looks in women who weren't white, he had to admit she was pretty. Both of them would get a lot of attention from guys whether they went. It was just a shame that it didn't really work on him. If they wanted it, then they would have to come and get it.

As he ate, the noticed the girls were definitely paying close attention to him. They were looking at him intently, with amusement he noticed that it was with lust. Still, it was pretty obvious that the two girls weren't use to having to get what they wanted, as it usually came to them. Emerald sighed; he may as well help them partly. He got up and walked to the bathroom, noting that the two girl's eyes watched him carefully as he entered. As soon as he was in, he smirked. If he was right, and he usually was, one of the girls would conveniently be outside and would accidently walk into him, thereby creating an excuse to talk to him. He grinned a little, and who was he to stop that from happening?

As he walked out, he saw everything happen before it actually did. The blonde haired girl walked into him, and with masterful acting, fell to the ground. The Indian girl was in the background, watching. Emerald played his part, knowing it like the back of his hand. He took the girl's hands and lifted her back up, before smiling at her.

'I'm sorry,' the girl started, smiling flirtatiously. 'Are you alright?'

Emerald smiled what was known to his gang members as his "award-winning-smile". He had been told many times by girls that it had made their knees weak. From the looks of this girl, it seemed to be working as well.

'Thank you for your concern, but I'm alright. And how are you, miss…?'

She blushed, quite prettily, so Emerald thought. 'I'm Lavender, Lavender Brown. And you are…?

He smiled, 'Emerald, just Emerald.' Her eyes widened slightly in recognition of the name. Emerald mentally groaned as he suspected what was coming next. The _damned _article!

'You're that Emerald guy, aren't you? I should've realised! You're meant to be brilliant when you play your concerts! Some of my friends went to one of your concerts ages ago, and they said that you were bloody brilliant!' She clapped her hands together in glee, not seeing Emerald's amused smile. Lavender waved over her friend. 'This is Parvati, my best friend.' Parvati smiled at Emerald as Lavender turned to Parvati. 'This is the mythical "Emerald"!'

Parvati's eyes widened and she looked at Emerald again. Her mouth gaped slightly. 'Holy shit, are you seriously him?' At Emerald's nod, her eyes turned slightly suspicious. 'How do we know you're really him though?' She looked at the side of his face, still partially covered by his hood, hiding most of his facial features and the tattoo. Obviously, Parvati knew about his tattoo. 'Pull down your hood,' she demanded. Emerald sighed, and pulled back his hood, showing his face. Instantly, the two girls gasped in a mixture of lust and shock. The two girls in particular stared at the snake tattoo he had on his face.

'Awesome…' Lavender whispered in awe.

Parvati could only nod in agreement, but she also had a small disgusted look on her face. Emerald glared at her. 'What's your problem now?' She had a serious problem; it was only a fucking tattoo!

She shook her head. 'Its – its nothing.' At Emerald's look, she sighed. 'It's just…well, why a snake?'

Emerald smirked as he sat at a random empty table, followed by the other two girls. He started to explain why he had chosen the tattoo. 'Well, the snake represents several things to me. Firstly, I don't know why, but it represents cunning. I live a hard life, and if you only rely on your pure muscle, then your never going to get anywhere in life. I've always loved snakes as well. They just appeal to me. Not only that, but it also serves as an intimidation tactic when I need it. It begets loyalty through fear to those who would betray me otherwise. It conceals my face and it creates an image that I have little doubt I would be able to keep otherwise. And finally, it draws people. I mean, it drew you two, didn't it?' he grinned at the last remark, making the two girls blush.

'It's not that we don't like the tattoo,' Parvati said. 'We just don't like the image that you chose for it.'

'Yeah,' Lavender shuddered. 'Snakes are icky, all slimy and nasty.'

Emerald laughed out loud at that statement, causing the two girls to jump. 'Believe me; snakes are not slimy, nasty nor icky. They're brilliant creatures. Besides, even if they were, why does it matter to you exactly?' The girls just shrugged their shoulders. 'Right…'Emerald decided to get to the point. 'Listen, girls, how would you both like to come to my concert tonight? And maybe afterwards we could hit a few clubs.' He grinned at them. The two girls looked at each other, obviously liking the idea before they turned back to Emerald.

'Sounds good to me, Lavender?'

'Yeah, I could probably make it.'

Emerald grinned. 'Alright then,' he grabbed a napkin and wrote down where the concert was taking place on it, before handing it to them. 'This is the address of the concert. Now, once I've finished, I'll meet the pair of you. Just wait outside of the club. Alright?' The two girls nodded eagerly.

After a few more minutes of random talking, the two girls made their excuses, and with a last lustful look, the pair of them left, leaving Emerald behind with their bill as well as his. He rolled his eyes, not again!

--

Far away, in a large crazily built house that looked like a pigsty and a small farm, a group of people who called themselves Wizards clustered around the wizard newspaper, the Prophet. Several people were there. A girl with brown, bushy hair that seemed to frizz at certain areas; a lanky redhead with a lot of freckles and a pretty female redhead that was obviously a relative of the lanky redhead. Currently, the male redhead and the bushy haired girl were arguing over an article in the newspaper by Rita Skeeter.

'But Ron, how on earth will you know if you like it if you don't even try it?' The bushy haired girl shared a tired look with the redhead girl. They'd been through this _so_ many times! Why on earth couldn't that idiot ever listen to him? He was so obstinate!

'But Hermione,' Ron said, his voice glum and boring to listen to. 'Muggle music is boring. It'll never be as good as wizarding music anyway, so what's the point?'

Hermione bristled. 'The point, Ron, is for you to get some experience of other culture outside of the wizarding world. Contrary to "popular" belief, the wizarding world isn't the only world. In some ways, Muggles are more advanced than us in other ways.'

This time, the other girl in the room bristled. 'Hermione, you may be book-smart, but there is actually nothing better than the Wizarding world. They burnt wizards and witches, for Merlin's sake!'

'Ginny!' Ron snapped, 'don't swear!' Ginny glared at Ron, just about to start yelling at him when Hermione broke in.

'Look, the point of the matter is that an esteemed member of the wizarding community, Rita Skeeter, fully recommends this music.' She ignored Ginny's murmur that that wasn't all she recommended. 'It's a new culture for you two, and in any case, I want to go! And I won't be allowed to go unless one of you two comes with me, now whose coming!' She glared at the two of them vindictively, causing the two redheads to shrink back in their seats.

'Actually, Miss Granger,' a calm voice spoke from the doorway, causing Hermione to jump around in shock. 'It's extremely likely that none of you will be going unless you get a responsible adult with you.' He gave a small wink to Ron and Ginny, unnoticed by Hermione who bristled.

'Yes, I've already got one, Professor Lupin, but again, I still need at least another person to go with me.'

'And who might that be?' Lupin inquired.

'Bill, why?' Lupin made a face. 'Sorry, Hermione, but Bill's been sent on a mission for the Order.' At Hermione's face, he allowed himself a small smile. She opened her mouth to say another name, but Lupin quickly went on. 'Charlie's leaving for Romania, Tonks and Moody are being sent on patrol for the Ministry and the Order, and I hardly think that the concert that your hoping to go to will be suitable for Molly and Arthur.'

At Hermione's crestfallen face, he started to laugh suddenly, joined by Ron and Ginny who had been in on the joke that Remus had been playing ever since he'd entered the room.

Hermione brightened slightly, 'So – so does that mean that Bill will be taking us to the concert?' She ignored the sighs from behind her as she consciously roped them into coming. Both of them knew that if they had any chance before to not go to the concert, they definitely didn't have a chance now.

Remus shook his head. 'No, I was sadly telling the truth about Bill being sent on a mission for the Order.' Hermione's face fell again. Remus snickered mentally; teasing Hermione was just so refreshing! Sirius had started the whole thing with messing with Hermione's head, and he had never stopped since!

'S – so that's it then? We won't be going?'

Remus chuckled. 'Of course you are! You're taking me, the old fuddy-duddy to your concert!' He grinned at Hermione's face. It was time for a bit of Marauder Magic. 'So then, what's going on at this concert then? Magicians? Clowns? I hope that the songs are good, I love those songs like "if you're happy and you know it", "ba, ba, black sheep".' He smiled at Hermione's mortified face. He turned to leave, 'well, I'll pick the three of you up later.' He smirked as he left, he could practically hear Hermione's bright red blush and the two Weasley's laughing their heads off. It was days like this that he loved his supernatural senses thanks to his werewolf genes.

--

The underground concert was completely packed full of bodies. The rumours that Emerald was playing tonight had proven true, and all the people who had come out, hoping that the rumours were true, had been rewarded. In one area of the concert, Lavender and Parvati danced with two hot guys, grinding their bodies against the two guys.

In the other area, a bewildered and cramped Ronald Weasley was sandwiched between several people, hardly able to move. Ginny and Hermione were dancing with each other to the techno music that served as a prelude to the main entertainment. An amused Lupin was standing at the side of the underground music hall, remembering past memories when the Marauders used to sneak out at night and go to clubs, just like this one. Those had been the days. He missed James in particular, both he and Sirius did. He often wondered what had happened to Harry, James' son. He remembered the first day he had met little Harry. He had clutched his finger so hard, that James remarked that he would without doubt be the finest Seeker that Hogwarts would ever field. Alas, it was not to be. He had been there when Albus had personally gone to the Dursleys when he had found out that no letter had actually reached them. He was suddenly drawn out from his thoughts when the techno music stopped and an announcer walked out onto the stage.

Within a few seconds, the entire crowd held their breath, creating an unnatural silence that filled the entire hall. The announcer finally made it to the centre of the stage, where behind him; curtains masked whatever was behind it. He coughed.

'Ladies and Gentlemen, we are proud to present tonight, the greatest, most badass and strongest band around this area, "Loves Blood"!' The man yelled the name of the band, and at that, the curtain fell to the ground and red mist burst out into the stage.

Remus stiffened.

That, that smell…there was an odd smell that he hadn't smelt since James and Lily had died, and Harry had been taken… His eyes widened. _Harry?_ But where? He eagerly looked around the room, hoping to find a miniature James somewhere in the room. No, nothing…but that smell that was definitely Harry's smell! But where was it coming from? He sniffed, it was definitely coming from the stage area, was Harry in that band? He looked over the band members.

The lead member was definitely a candidate. His face was covered up by a hood, and what appeared to be a tattoo. He shuddered, if that was Harry, then James would be rolling over in his grave, he had a snake for a tattoo! The other band members were clearly not James, as two of them were girls; another guy was Asian and the other guy looked nothing alike. Harry couldn't have been using a polyjuice potion or a concealment charm, as he knew nothing about the Wizarding world, right?

There was only one real candidate then who could be Harry James Potter, the lead singer, the one who wore a repulsive tattoo, the one who had clearly been corrupted by life. He shuddered, Dumbledore had to know about this. They had to get Harry away from this life before he went down the wrong path even further. He'd resist, no doubt, but like Dumbledore always said, it was for the Greater Good. He didn't know why it was that Dumbledore needed him, but clearly he was important for the safety of the Wizarding World, even if it had forsaken him. He looked to see the others. Hermione was busy dancing with another guy, while Ron watched enviously. Ginny had gone to a bar, where he was thankful to see that she had limited herself to Muggle fizzy drinks. She was in a conversation with a pretty blonde, and seemed to be enjoying herself. He sighed, it could wait then. Harry had probably waited his whole life for someone to take him away from all this, so he could wait for a few hours.

But he would be liberated.


	5. The lost has been found

Lost and Found

**Lost and Found**

Emerald smirked as he noticed Lavender make her way over to him. Looking her up and down, he grinned at the nice pair of legs shown to full effect by her minuscule skirt. While he wasn't a leg man, he did appreciate a nice pair of legs at times.

'Hey Emerald,' she half-shouted over the music. 'So how did you get in then?'

'I could ask you the same thing, Lav.'

She grinned as she gestured to her skirt and twirled. 'Well, a short skirt equals age to the common garden bouncer at these times. Their boorish attention is limited to below your waistline, and not to your face. And what about you then?'

Emerald tapped his tattoo and gestured his body. 'I look a lot older than I look, and the fake ID helps out quite a bit as well. Of course, my natural charisma might've helped out a lot as well. I'm a very popular person, Lav. It comes with being a rockstar.'

He looked around his area. 'Is that girl, Parvati, with you? Or did she have to go home after the concert?'

She pointed to another area of the club. 'She's around over there.' She smiled at him.

Emerald reckoned that when she smiled, she was drop-dead gorgeous. Although he was dreading the stories and the laughter that would come once he went back to the flat again. 'So is anyone else with you tonight?'

Lavender shook her head, 'nah, it's just me and Parv.'

'Well in that case, maybe we could all keep company tonight. Thanks to tonight's concert, I've got quite a lot of money burning a hole in my pocket, and there's too much of it to spend on just myself.' Emerald grinned at her. Thanks to the 800 quid that the manager paid up after hearing what had happened to the other manager when he had been late on his payments, he now had more than enough to give to the gang and to spend partly on himself.

Lavender smirked. 'Your not backwards on coming forward, are you Emerald?'

Emerald merely lifted a eyebrow.

'Let's go see what Parv has to say then about your offer.'

She weaved her way through the crowd on the dance floor expertly as Emerald simply walked effortlessly through. Somehow, the crowd in the way of Emerald felt his presence, and without thinking about it, made way for him.

'Hey Parv, I've found him.' She said, leaning into her friend's ear and shouting. The crowd then separated enough for Emerald to catch up to the pair, and Parvati's eyes widened with pleasure.

'Hey Emerald,' she shouted. 'Where were you after the concert? Me and Lav had to go to the nightclub without you.' She pouted.

Emerald gave her a knee-weakening smile. 'Forgive me?' He said in a pleading voice.

She grinned, 'Only if you dance with me tonight.' She added.

Emerald laughed. 'Does this mean then that I can join the pair of you? I'll pay and it'll all be my treat.'

She looked at Lavender behind Emerald, who was nodding her head and holding her thumbs up. She looked back at Emerald, 'yeah, that would be great.'

'What do you two want to drink?'

Parvati shrugged, 'whatever your drinking looks good. I'll have the same as you, please.'

Emerald turned to Lavender, 'and you Lav?'

'Yeah, same as please.' She answered. Emerald turned and walked towards the bar. In the absence of Emerald, the two girls went into a huddle.

'Did you see him? Isn't he hot…?' Lavender said her tone of voice slightly dreamy.

'Yeah, but this won't last you know, even if he was interested. Not only is he a Muggle, so neither of us would be able to see him during the school term, but he's clearly trouble. I highly doubt he'll be loyal, and the lifestyle he leads just doesn't connect with mine. Can you honestly see him being interested in makeup and gossip?'

'No, I can't see that, but in the meantime though…' Lavender said with a saucy smile.

'Your saying you basically want to make out with what appears to be the next greatest rockstar?'

Lavender waggled her eyebrows up and down with a massive grin.

'well, have you considered that I might want to do that as well.' Parvarti said challengingly.

Lavender looked at her, scrutinizing for a minute, before shrugging her shoulders. 'Who cares, Parv. In the end, he's only a guy, and we've both been mates since first year. I think that we should both just have our fun tonight with him, and in the morning we can worry about it.'

'Lavender!' Parvati squealed in shock.

Lavender merely smirked at her.

Emerald soon came back and gave the pair of them a bottle of Alco-pop that he had been downing by the bottle. Already, he was on his second and he'd only been in the nightclub for ten minutes.

At the first taste of her Alco-pop, Lavender's eyes widened greatly. 'Holy shit, this is alcohol!' She said, clearly surprised. 'I thought that you were just drinking coke or stuff like that.'

Emerald shrugged. 'If you don't like it, I can get you something else if you want.'

Lavender shook her head. 'No, no. It's alright. It's just that normally the staff at the bar are a lot harder to convince of your age than bouncers are.'

Emerald shrugged again. 'Well, again, I look a lot older than I really am.' He pointed to the tattoo. 'This helps quite a bit, and the fact that I know a few people on the staff just makes it all the more easier.

She shook her head, "No this is fine, it's just that normally the bar staff is harder to convince than the bouncers." He said with a smirk.

Lavender eyed him like a prize. 'Aren't you boiling in that cloak of yours?'

Emerald shook his head, taking Lavender's hand and putting it inside of his shirt. Her eyes widened significantly.

'What's up?' Parvati asked, clearly wondering what the big fuss was all about.

Emerald repeated the same thing he had with Lavender; causing Parvati's eyes to shoot wide open.

'Woah, I take it you work out a lot then.'

Emerald simply winked at her. 'So then, who's going to be the first one to make me look great on the dance floor then?' He asked with his knee-weakening smile.

Both girls looked at each other, before both of them got up and dragged him onto the dance floor. He grinned as he started to dance to the music with both girls turning him into a sandwich. Soon, glances were being drawn their way, sowing jealousy from some of the men surrounding them. Especially some of the drunker ones.

One particular drunk man who believed himself to be in particular impressive and fancied himself to be a attractive guy grabbed Lavender and attempted to force her into dancing with him.

'Get off,' Lavender growled at the man.

Emerald turned from Parvati and grabbed the drunken man's arm, swinging him around. 'She doesn't want to dance with you,' Emerald said in a low voice, which despite it's tone still managed to carry over the music.

'Fuck off, dick.' The drunk man snarled into Emerald's face.

Emerald waved a hand in front of his face. 'What the hell happened to you, did you fall into a brewery or something?' He asked, a mocking tone in his voice.

'You can have the Paki, I'll take the blonde.' The guy went on to say.

Emerald's eyes turned incredibly hard. 'I think that you need to take a hike. Fuck off pal.'

The man's pride obviously took a beating, as he swung a fist at Emerald. Emerald ducked underneath the punch and darted a sharp left into the armpit of the man, causing a crack to come from that area. He followed through instinctively as he had been taught from the years he'd spent with the gang. As the man clutched his armpit in pain, Emerald's heel whacked the guy's shinbone, throwing him to the ground. He turned to the two girls as the man went down. 'You two alright?' At their nods, he turned back to the man, spitting on him. 'Filthy cocksucker.'

Parvati nodded sadly. 'It's aright Emerald, I'm used to comments like that.'

He frowned, anger leaking from his body. 'Well, you shouldn't fucking well be used to stuff like that.' He said with force. She smiled at him.

Suddenly, one of the friends of the drunken man decided to step in, lashing out a fist and catching Emerald on the chin. Despite this, though, Emerald didn't go down. He had taken on a lot more pain than that before, especially after being captured by a rival gang all on his own. They had been inventive in their torture, he'd give them that. And so, he span with the momentum caused by the punch and knutted the man in the face. The man went down, and he stayed down.

And of course, that was when the bouncers finally decided to show up.

Looking around, he saw Emerald and two men on the ground. 'Right, you three get out.'

Emerald swigged the last of his drink and nodded. 'Fine, the service here is absolute shit anyway.' As he waited for Lavender and Parvati to grab their coats under the watchful eyes of the bouncers, Emerald eyed one of the bouncers who were taking a great interest in Lavender's legs. Too much attention for Emerald's liking. His suspicion was confirmed when the man lent forward and whispered something in her ear. She recoiled from whatever he said, and Emerald had enough. 'Hey, I think you should back off mate.'

The bouncer eyed him like an eye underneath the microscope. Lavender grabbed Emerald's hand and led him away from the staring match. Parvati followed in the rear.

As soon as they were out of the nightclub, Lavender rounded on Emerald. 'Emerald, are you insane? That guy would've crushed you like a little bug!'

'Well, whatever he said upset you.' Emerald said in way of explanation. He was just about to say something else when Parvati grabbed him by the arms and kissed him forcibly, her tongue slipping into his mouth for a moment.

'Thanks for standing up for me, Emerald. I hate racists so much.' Parvati said, breaking the kiss with Emerald.

Suddenly, Parvati left Emerald's arms and Lavender mirrored Parvati's actions, but stayed there longer. Emerald, recovered from his surprise wrapped his arms around her slender waist and pulled her to his body as he kissed her back.

She moaned into his mouth, causing Parvati to roll her eyes at her friend, but smiling all the same. 'Hey, hormones, let's go, its bloody cold out here.'

Lavender broke the kiss; grinning at her best friend. 'Wow,' she breathed out with an even bigger grin replacing the original one. She detached herself from Emerald, shaking herself a little. 'It's not cold from where I'm standing.' She remarked to Parvati.

Emerald smirked. Time for phase two. 'Shall we find another place, ladies?' He asked. 'Or perhaps, if the rewards are the same as just now, we could go back inside the club and I'll beat up that bouncer.'

Lavender and Parvati giggled. 'You wish,' Lavender said through her giggles.

'Of course I do,' he said, winking at them both. 'But of course, the night is young, I don't have anywhere else to be for a long time, and I'm looking for some fun. So does either of you two beautiful girls know of another nightclub that you could recommend to me?

The two of them shared a look, talking to each other with a single look as only true friends could. Suddenly, Parvati sniffed and grinned. 'Burger van!' She said, smiling.

Lavender rolled her eyes. 'Sometimes, I swear that she's partly blood hound.'

'So I'll get the pair you some burgers, and then we'll go find another club, that sound good?'

The pair nodded. 'Sounds like a plan,' they said in unison.

Emerald chuckled at the two of them. While he did have his misgivings earlier about the pair, he had to admit that they were fun to hang around. It was great just hanging around with two pretty girls and the fact that they had both kissed him earlier to his plans hadn't hurt either. The pair of them set off with Emerald trailing behind them, giving them the chance to check the pair of them out from behind. Parvati was slender with long legs that seemed to go on forever, while Lavender had more curves with incredible legs, but a hell of a clevage to match as well. Both of them were quite frankly gorgous. He'd decided that even though he couldn't really compare girls who weren't white, he had changed his opinion. Parvati was hot!

'Enjoying the view, are we, Emerald?' Lavender shot over her shoulder with a cheeky smile on her face.

Instead of the blush that usually appeared on most guys faces when they were caught out, Emerald simply gave a knee-weakening grin to her. 'Hell yeah,' he said, causing the pair of them to giggle again.

Enjoying the two girls laughter, even if it was partly at his expense, Emerald allowed himself to be led to the nearest burger van. Once he got their orders and paid for them like he promised earlier, he handed them over to the girls.

Taking a bite out of his double cheeseburger, he closed his eyes in mock-pleasure. 'It isn't half bad!'

'Burger vans are an important part of going clubbing,' Parvati told him, pretending to be serious.

'I would've thought that you'd know that, since you obviously have more experience than the pair of us.'

Emerald shrugged. 'I don't really eat this, I find it quite fatty and it lacks proper minerals and shit like that.' He patted his six-pac, 'I find it more preferable to have a six-pac rather than a fat belly.'

The two girls shrugged, and continued eating their burgers. Finally, when Parvati had finished what was in her mouth, she pointed at Emerald. 'We have definitely got to do this again, it's been amazing!'

'Well, hopefully we can do that soon. It just depends when I get time off from beating up drunk guys and facing off bouncers.'

The two girls laughed, pleased with his answer.

'So then, Emerald.' Parvati said, throwing her greasy paper into the rubbish bin. 'Who's the best kisser, me or Lavender?'

Emerald smirked. He wasn't falling for this, once; he'd answered a girl who was the best kisser. His cheek hurt after the repeated slaps she'd given him. Although, that might've been because it had been her sister who he'd made out with. And more…

'Well, you both blew me apart, but if I'm going to make a proper comparision, I'll need more samples. A LOT more.'

Parvati blinked at his rapid answer, while Lavender practically died from laughing so hard. A twinkle went into Parvati's eyes as she turned to Lavender. 'Well then, I think that we should give what the man wants, shouldn't we Lavender?'

Lavender pulled herself together. 'But of course, it's only fair after he saved us from the evils of leers and drunkenness!'

Emerald smirked, but missed the look that passed between the two girls as they recalled their earlier conversation in the club.

'So then,' Emerald said. 'Where we headed?'

Lavender pointed down a street. 'Just down there, there's a club. It's more selective in it's clientalle, so I'm afraid that you'll have to pay a little bit more to get in.' Lavender informed him.

Emerald shrugged. 'I don't really care, I can cover it. So how far away is it, and do we need to get a taxi for it?'

'Nah, we can all easily walk it.'

Emerald looked at her heels pointedly.

'Checking out my legs, are we?' She asked, teasingly.

Parvati mocked-waved her face. 'My goodness, the heat between you two.' Parvati commented wryly, causing the pair to laugh.

'Nah, it was just that I was wondering how you can walk anywhere in those things.' He said.

Parvati lifted up a leg with an even higher pair of heels on than Lavender did. Emerald eyed her long leg with a hint of a sexy smile building up on his face. 'You just get used to it, I suppose.' She tapped her chin in thought.

'You know, you look really cute when you tap your chin.' Emerald said with a fully emerged smirk on his face.

'Well then, if you think that I'm that cute, where's my kiss?'

'And don't forget me,' Lavender said. 'It wouldn't be fair if she got ahead of me.'

Emerald raised an eyebrow. 'You're keeping score?'

Parvati rolled her eyes, got up from the bench and sat herself in his lap, before waiting. 'Well?'

Emerald gave a mock depressed sigh. 'Well, a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do!' Emerald sighed, before he kissed her.

Lavender took Parvati's place once she'd finished, grabbed his hand and allowed it to stroll to her thigh. 'Don't say anything Emerald, and just kiss me.'

Emerald shrugged and happily did as he was told.

--

After a couple of hours, two clubs and a lot of drinking later, Emerald found himself sat on the bank of the Thames, Lavender on his lap, her lips pressing against his own and their tongues entwined. From the way Lavender was reacting, she was clearly enjoying herself. The sun was starting to rise, and Parvati had drifted off to sleep beside Emerald and Lavender, having had her fair share of snogging as well.

Lavender shifted in his lap, chuckling when she felt a large presence. 'My, oh my, is this getting to you, Emerald?' She asked teasingly.

Emerald shrugged. 'Can you quite honestly blame me? Your gorgeous, and –'

Lavender shut up Emerald with another drawn out and passionate kiss. 'You know what?' She said after taking a deep breath. 'I wouldn't mind doing this again. Strictly casual of course. I mean, no offence or nothing, but I don't think I could handle being your girlfriend.'

'Oh, I thought that you were away for most of the year at some boarding school up in Scotland, weren't you?' Emerald remembered a conversation that the two girls had mentioned earlier.

'Yeah, but until that time, I know a few good places that make a damn good snog, and if you're a good boy, I might let your hands wander a bit.' She said teasingly.

'You're a slut.' Said a sleepy voice on Emerald's side.

Lavender shrugged. 'Trust me, I've had his hand touching my leg for most of the night now, and I wouldn't mind if they wandered any time now. He's got nice hands.' Lavender said to her friend with a smug grin.

Parvati grinned back. 'I think that our dear Emerald here is a leg man. I've noticed his hand on my thigh a couple of times as well. Do you like legs Emerald?' She said, also giving Emerald a teasing grin.

Emerald grinned back. 'I like everything, especially on the pair of you.'

Parvati smirked. 'Well, unlike Lavender, Emerald, I think that this'll be just a one time thing for me. I've enjoyed it and everything, and before we go I'm definitely getting another snog from you, but I've got my eyes on someone else at school. Not to mention that your lifestyle is totally out of zinc with mine.'

Lavender leaned her head into Emerald's neck and kissed along his jaw line, causing him to grin down at her, his hand gliding up the smooth skin of her thigh, causing her to literally purr at him. He shrugged at Parvati. 'Well, I won't say that I won't regret it, but your right. My life is definitely not the same as yours.'

She smiled at him dreamily and looked at her watch, before her eyes widened massively. 'Holy Mer – I mean, Lavender, its 6am! We need to get back to my house before my parents wake up. Lavender…Lavender?'

'In a minute,' Lavender moaned.

Parvati rolled her eyes, leaned around to Emerald and gave him a hot kiss while she grabbed Lavender's hand and dragged him off of his lap. As she pulled away a clearly, unwilling Lavender, she gave him a sad wave as she realized that this was probably the last time that either she or Lavender would ever see him again.

Emerald sighed as he got up. It was time he got back to the gang house. God knows what they got up to without him. Probably lead a revolution against the current state, knowing his luck.

Meanwhile, unknown to Emerald, a hidden person followed his footsteps…

--

Albus Dumbledore had a great big smile on his face. At last, the savior of the light had been found! All that he would have to do was to pick him up and take him to his destiny. That is, to defeat Tom Riddle, or as he liked to be known, Lord Voldemort.

Of course, he expected there to be some slight resistance, which was why he brought some of the Order of the Phoenix members with him. It was better to be safe than sorry, what if some Death Eaters turned up just as they were extracting him to safety? No, it wasn't worth the risk.

He turned to his twelve Order members. Amongst them were Severus and Remus. He briefly told them that there was a boy who had to be taken to safety. He didn't know much (if any) of the wizarding world, but his intervention would prove a turning point in the war against the Dark. Once there, Harry would come to Hogwarts, and with plenty of hard work and help from some friends that he had already picked out mentally for Harry, he ought to have little problems in catching up on school work. His mind went back to when Remus had rushed into his office.

_Flashback_

_Albus had been busy in his office, filling out some paperwork that would give him more leeway in the war against Tom. It stated that he would be allowed to raid any suspected Death Eaters without fear of being tied up in the courts or being investigated by the Aurors. All he had to do was convince a few people, or else he'd have to blacklist them. Of course, it was for the Greater Good of course._

_He jumped slightly when a face appeared in his fireplace._

'_Good heavens, Remus, what's the matter? Are the Weasley's in trouble?' He asked, his face full of concern. Never let it be said that he wouldn't take care of those of the Light Side._

_Remus was panting as though he'd run somewhere. 'Albus, we've found him.'_

_Albus face scrunched up in confusion. Was it that time of the month again for Remus? 'Remus, my dear boy, I'm afraid that I don't quite understand what you mean. Who are you talking about?'_

'_Harry!'_

_Albus' face turned pale with shock. 'Remus, can you prove this?'_

_Remus nodded. 'I'm a werewolf; my senses are higher than any normal human, even with the aid of magic. I assure you; I smelt the scent of Harry. He's here and he's alive.'_

_Albus immediately reacted. 'I want you to get yourself here as soon as possible. Inform Molly and Sirius that we may be expecting a very important guest who will be arriving at Grimmauld Place soon. Oh, and tell her that it's in the best interests of the Greater Good that she informs no-one of this. If we're wrong about this, then it could prove disastrous to the poor boy. Have Tonks follow him to whether he lives. We'll pick him up from there. Understood?'_

_Remus nodded. 'It will be done.'_

--

Jackson stood sentry at the flat. On the other side, his counterpart did the same. Their task was to protect the gang by watching out for any potential enemies. In frank, it was a boring job. Ever since the gang had been driven out, their once important role in gang-politics was now useless, and they played little part. No one really bothered them anymore, except to sometimes heckle individual members if found alone. Of course, that hardly ever happened as the gang had made sure that any gang members who weren't part of their gang were driven out of their particular area.

This night, only Emerald had been out, and he had returned five minutes ago. He fingered his favored gun, the Desert Eagle that he had purchased from an American from California, where it could only be bought. The gang had similar weapons, but nothing too destructive. The best weapon that they had belonged to Emerald himself, who had the earliest version of the M4 Carbine.

Suddenly, he saw movement. He gaped as he saw strangely dressed people seemingly appear from nowhere and start approaching the house. Swearing, he grabbed his radio and alerted his counterpart on the other side of the building.

Raising his weapon, he aimed at the leading member of the approaching people. He aimed, cocked and fired.

BANG!

The man immediately dropped with a bullet in his body. The people froze, giving Jackson another chance to fire another bullet at another person. It didn't work, as an odd looking force-field that could've come from Star Trek surrounded the person. At that, all hell broke out.

--

Emerald had just lain down to sleep, when a shot broke out, followed five seconds later by another shot, apparently by the same pistol. Swearing, he leapt onto the floor and picked his bed up, throwing it to the side. Underneath was a loose floorboard that he literally ripped up by the nails. Underneath that floorboard was his pride and joy, a M4 Carbine, semi-automatic. Grabbing a spare hand pistol and a knife, he shoved them into his pockets, grabbed his M4 Carbine and ran down to the make-shift barricade that they had constructed a long time ago just in case.

As he approached, he saw most of the gang already there, firing bullets at the invaders, and in return strange balls of light were being thrown back, and odd sounds came from the area of the invaders.

'_Stupefy!'_

The balls of red light, whenever they hit one of the gang members, they fell to the ground, whether they were dead or unconscious, however, Emerald didn't know. As he reached the barricade and took cover behind it, he saw Shell firing her favored weapon, a Baby Eagle that had come all the way from Israel itself.

She grinned when she saw the weapon that Emerald carried and shouted to him over the noise. 'It's about time you got here, Emerald. Those bastards seem to have something protecting them from our bullets unless you fire at a particular area a lot! They don't seem to be fighting to kill, as we haven't had any casualties except for them being unconscious.'

Emerald nodded. 'How many are there?'

Shell shrugged. 'There seem to be at least ten of them. We've taken down four of them, but there're more appearing from over there.' She pointed towards the alleyway where more strangely dressed people were appearing from nowhere. Emerald dismissed that last thought when he suddenly realized that they were all carrying the strange sticks, a stick that he carried himself!

Shell whacked him over the head. 'Stop thinking and start shooting, you idiot!'

Emerald nodded, and aimed at one particular person with a blueish shield around him. Opening fire, within a few seconds, at least twenty bullets hit one area of a shield, causing part of it to collapse and hit the man inside of the shield. As he fell, the shield faded away quickly.

Suddenly, a massive wave of red balls hit the barricade, causing most of it to collapse and left the gang members in the open. Emerald reacted immediately to this by grabbing Shell by the arm and throwing himself and her into part of a barricade that hadn't collapsed. The next wave of red balls hit the barricade again just one second after Emerald and Shell had taken cover. The rest of the gang members there weren't so lucky. Nearly all of them were hit by the red balls, causing those hit to collapse.

Only Emerald, Shell, Rick (who had just turned up) and another two gang members managed to escape the balls. Emerald turned to Shell, his face deadly serious. 'Shell,' he started. 'I just want you to know that despite everything that I've ever done to you over the years, I really like you. And if we make it out of here alive, then perhaps I could go out with you on a date?' Emerald said hopefully, releasing the feelings that he'd been suppressing ever since he'd met her.

Shell stared at him, her expression unreadable. Around them, the sharp cracking of gunfire from the remaining gang members continued to fire, and the hissing of the spells whenever they missed their target kept going, but Emerald and Shell just stared into each other's eyes. Before, like reacting to an unseen signal, the two of them leaned forward and kissed each other softly. After a minute, and a red ball and just hit above their heads, Emerald drew away. Looking around, he saw the two gang members had fallen, and Rick was on his own, hiding behind a ever-smaller barricade. Seeing Emerald's look, he winked and held up his thumb in congratulations with him and Shell. Emerald rolled his eyes, only Rick would be so lain back as to do something like that at a time like this!

Suddenly, Rick fell, his body hit by a red ball. Emerald swore as he realized that only he and Shell were still up and fighting. Shell frowned as she reloaded her weapon; she knew that the odds were without doubt against them.

But no balls came. Instead, a voice came from the area of the strange people.

'Harry James Potter!'

--

It had not been a good battle for Albus Dumbledore. At least six of the Order members had fallen to the strange Muggle guns. Apparently their shields didn't do well against them. Still, his shield had held, and eventually they had subdued the children. But at a high price. Hopefully, though, it would be worth it.

'Harry James Potter!' Dumbledore called out.

'Who?' A clearly confused voice came from the side of the barricade. The Order shuffled in confusion, they hadn't been told that Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived, was amongst them! If he was there, then this would prove to be a turning point in the war! Albus was also confused, what did they mean, who was he?

Remus stepped in at this point. Casting a apologetic look at Dumbledore, he called out a name. 'Emerald?'

'Yeah, what the hell do you want, coming to our area and attacking us like this?'

Snape snapped at the voice. 'Attacking you? Muggles? Who are unworthy of our attention? Why you insufferable brat!'

The only reply he got from that was a bullet that smacked just to the left of him, causing him to jump.

'Damn, missed the greasy bastard.' A clearly female voice said from the barricades.

They heard a chuckle. 'Unlucky, maybe next time. 'Now, anyway, what the hell are you? You and those strange sticks.'

Dumbledore smiled inwardly, he always used to love doing this bit when he used to teach at Hogwarts as a professor.

'Mr. Potter, you are a wizard.'

Silence met the statement, before two derisive laughs broke out.

'What the hell are you on? Cause I'm going to want some of that later! And who the hell is this Harry Potter you keep twittering on about you old fool?'

Gasps were heard from the Order, who never before in their life had heard anyone insult the great Albus Dumbledore. Severus prepared to rant some more, before thinking better of it.

'Mr. – Emerald was it?'

'Yes…but we don't have anyone here of that name, you idiot!'

More gasps from the Order. Dumbledore simply smiled good-naturedly.

'No, you're Harry Potter, my boy.'

A brief silence, before, 'No I'm not.

'Yes you are.'

'No I'm not.'

'I assure you, you are.

'No I'm not.'

'Mr. Potter, please stop this –'

'No I'm not.'

Albus sighed, rubbing his face with his wandless hand. They would have to do some explaining when they arrived at the Burrow. He gestured to the hidden Order member who had crept up on Harry from behind. The person grabbed Harry and portkeyed out. At the scream of shock and disbelief from the female who was with Harry, Dumbledore and the remaining Order members quickly grabbed their fallen comrades and disapparated from the area before any remaining gang members made it past the wards that Albus had constructed.

After all, it was for the Greater Good, reasoned Albus.

**Hey guys, I'd just like to thank everyone who reviewed. You all inspired me to write another chapter in just one day! Who knows, more reviews like that, and I might even get another chapter done! So please, everyone who reads this and likes it, just tell me.**

**By Kaeim**


	6. Explanations and sorting

Forced to comply

**Forced to comply**

Emerald felt himself being grabbed by a hidden presence behind him as he and Shell were calling out insults to the strange invaders. As he was grabbed, he instinctively turned around; ready to attack whoever it was that attacked him. However, he felt something tug at his naval and he felt him unwillingly being pulled away by an irresistible force. Time seemed to slow down as he watched Shell turned around, her expression one of shock and horror as he felt himself disappear. As he disappeared, his arm threw

--

He collapsed onto a wooden floor, curled up instinctively to protect himself from any kicks or punches while he was on the ground. A second later as he realised that he wasn't surrounded, he kicked out and rolled to the back of the room. Seeing people start to appear from nowhere, he searched the room, hoping to find something that he could use for cover. He grinned as he saw a massive table just standing there in front of him. Perfect.

He grabbed it by the side and with a huge burst of adrenalin, lifted it above his head and threw it against the wall onto its side, creating a make-shift barricade. He grinned as he leapt behind it and grabbed out of his pocket the hand pistol that he had put in there earlier. Raising his pistol, he saw in front of him several people.

A long white-bearded man was the first he noticed. His eyes were twinkling, and he looked like someone who you should trust, like it or not. Next to him was a greasy-haired guy whose hair looked as though it hadn't been washed in ages. His eyes were filled with contempt at the sight of Emerald. To the other side of the long-bearded man was a tired looking man, with an air of mustiness and exhaustion around him. His face was pale, but he looked at Emerald in wonderment. To the side of the room was another two people. One of them was a man, whose face spoke of hard times. He was skinny and didn't show much muscle, but like the tired looking man, he also looked at Emerald in astonishment. The other woman was a dumpy looking woman, who had red hair, and looked as though she might've been once pretty at an earlier stage in her life.

As he aimed the pistol up, the three men who stood together raised their strange sticks at Emerald. A standoff.

'Harry, put down that Muggle contraption.' The white-bearded man said, warning in his voice.

Emerald sneered, 'Look, I don't know who you are, I don't know how I got here, but I'll tell you two things right now. My name isn't Harry Potter, but Emerald. And I'm warning you now, you had better get out of my way and let me go, or else I'll pop one in that fat bitch over there.' He aimed the gun at the redhead, who bristled.

'How dare you!' Her voice started to rise in pitch. 'How dare you speak that way to the Headmaster and point whatever that, that thing is at me!' Her voice was very high now, reaching shrieking point now, Emerald's ears started to hurt. As she was just about to go off into a rant, Emerald aimed the gun at a plant pot in the corner of the room, and fired one bullet. The plant pot exploded into tiny pieces, and cut off the redhead in her rants, and caused everyone to aim cast protective shields over themselves and the redheaded woman.

Everyone froze and just stared at Emerald in shock. They'd seen the power of the Muggle weapons for themselves, they'd had to send off three Order members that had pieces of the Muggle weapons in them, but they hadn't really accepted it. Dumbledore's head was in a spin. If this was Harry James Potter, then it appeared that he had his work cut out for him. He would try the grandfatherly touch on the poor boy, maybe then he would be open for Dumbledore's help before he left for Hogwarts. Even if he didn't, he would still be going, but it would be so much more easier in the long run if Harry cooperated with him.

'Harry, my boy –'

'Oh for fuck's sake, old man! First of all, I'm not Harry Potter! And even if I was, I don't think you realise just how much it would piss me off if you said that. My name is Emerald! And will you fucking let me pass you, or do I have to kill that woman?'

At Emerald's last sentence, all the men, apart from the greasy haired guy moved closer towards the redhead. Emerald sneered at their actions. 'Take another step, and I will shoot her. Do you understand?'

All the men stopped, knowing that after the events of tonight, they could risk nothing. Already the Order of the Phoenix had taken its casualties, and to add insult to injury, it hadn't even been caused by Death Eaters, but Muggles! It was exactly these kinds of casualties that Dumbledore never risked whenever he sent the Order on their missions.

'Alright, Emerald' Dumbledore said hesitating. 'Just put down that, that thing, and we can have a nice talk.'

Emerald spat. 'That's a load of bollocks. Here's what we'll do, you can first drop those sticks of yours onto the ground.' At a look from Albus, everyone did so, but hesitantly. Emerald nodded his approval. 'Good, you freaks are learning. Now, kick your sticks over this way.' Again, with another look from Albus, they did so. 'Alright, everyone into the corner, nice and slowly.' As they backed away into a corner of the room, Emerald slowly came out of his make-shift barricade, still aiming his gun at the group of people.

He kept his eye on the group as he opened the door, and suddenly ran!

There were loads of corridors in front of him, Emerald picked one at random and just ran as fast as he could, not bothering to check out corners for any potential enemies. He could hear them behind him, he was sure of it. He didn't know what they were or what they wanted, but Emerald refused to be part of their little game. He had to get out of here, back to London and back to Shell. He needed them as much as they needed him. Whatever those people were going on about, him being called Harry Potter, well, he admitted that that could be the case, but even so, whatever life this Harry Potter had led, he had left it behind. Even at night, he still had nightmares about the abuse he'd been put through by the Dursleys.

Suddenly, as he ran along another corridor, he saw two identical redheads walking down the corridor before him. Upon seeing him, the pair halted and looked at each other incredulously. Emerald smirked as he lowered his shoulder to go in front of him, as he rammed into the pair of them at full speed. The two twins landed into the wall, while Emerald took no pain at all. He smirked, that was too easy.

As he turned yet another corner, a group of three teenagers were in front of him. Two redheads who were obviously brother and sister, and a brown-haired girl who froze as they saw him, they had obviously heard the shouts from behind him. Emerald growled as he realised that he wouldn't be able to hit them at full speed, and at least one of them would remain standing. There was only one thing that he could do. Emerald raised the gun, holding it in front of him and prepared to fire.

The brown-haired girl screamed at the sight of the gun, and dragged the two redheads, both of them kicking and yelling all the way, into another corridor. Obviously the brown haired girl knew about his gun and what it did.

He ran as fast as he could through the corridors, running down steps at every chance he got. He was sure that the strange people chasing him were just a few corridors behind him now. He was at a severe disadvantage. He couldn't utilise his complete speed due to the narrow and often short corridors, he didn't know where he was or where the door was to escape, in short, he was screwed if he didn't get out.

As he ran down yet another step of stairs, he finally realised that this had to be the last floor in which he could get out of. Running out of the staircase, he saw a last door and windows that showed the outside world. That had to be it! He ran for the door, faster, and faster. He reached out for the door handle, he –

BANG!

The door opened from the outside and whacked right into Emerald's face. As his consciousness faded and a pink-haired girl in her twenties bent over him, looking concerned, only one word echoed through his mind.

_Shit…_

--

Emerald groggily woke up as he felt a soft bed underneath him. He purposely kept his eyes closed and his face expressionless. It hadn't been the first time that he'd woken up in a position like this, and he'd trained himself for a long time every morning after waking up to keep himself in a half-sleep mode, which would give him the advantage of surprise. An enemy taken by surprise was already half defeated, after all.

He listened to the conversations of the people assembled in the room, hovering around him.

'But Albus,' the redheaded dumpy woman's voice said above him. 'You can't seriously be considering keeping him here. He's dangerous! He threatened me, for Merlin's sake!'

'Alas, Molly, we cannot let him go now. He is the hope of the entire Wizarding World, not just a pet project I'm conducting.'

'The hope of the entire Wizarding world?' A male voice asked. 'Albus, why whatever do you mean?'

'In good time, my dear Remus, in good time.'

Emerald sensed someone bend over him.

'So this is my godson then.' Another voice said. Emerald's mind boggled at that, but his expression still remained the same.

'Yes, Sirius. That would be our godson.' Remus' voice said.

'Hmm, he doesn't look anything like James, really. But his eyes, they're Lily's eyes.'

A round of agreements followed that statement.

'So then, Albus, what are your plans for Harry?'

'Well, obviously I'd have to sit him down and explain to him who and what he is to us in the Wizarding World. He'd also have to come to Hogwarts for his magical education. It's too dangerous for him out there in the streets; we did a great service to the poor boy when we collected him.'

Emerald felt anger start to build up in him. These freaks, wizards, grabbed him from where he was happy for some obtuse reason! They thought they were doing him a fucking favour? Those dicks! He felt his mask start to break, and he quickly collected himself, hoping that no one noticed. He was in luck, no-one did.

'Hogwarts, but Albus, the boy is feral! We don't know where he's been, what he's been doing, I doubt the boy can even read! And you to send him to Hogwarts? He'll corrupt half the children there within the first week, knowing him. He's the son of James Potter!' The voice held a distinctive hint of pride at the last sentence.

'And that just makes it even more imperative that we help the boy. Do you really think that James and Lily would've wanted their son to turn out like this? No, they would've wanted him to grow up respectable and happy, like every other child should. He would've had that as well, had he not run away from the Dursleys.'

Emerald was really pissed off now. Run away from the goddamn Dursleys? They had fucking abandoned him, thrown him into the boot of a car where he could hardly breathe, and thrown him god knows where!

Suddenly, he heard the door open and an aggravated male voice entered the room. 'What are you doing, Professor Dumbledore, in allowing something like him stay in the house? Look at him, he's, he's a Muggle!'

'No, Mr. Weasley, he's not a Muggle, although he was brought up like one.'

A small silence fell after that, before the voice spoke again. 'Is that why he's so dirty and skanky?'

A small wave of laughter broke out after his sentence. 'No, no, Mr. Weasley, he was just brought up in a terrible environment. His name, which I think that you ought to know, is Harry James Potter.'

The voice gasped, 'That's Harry Potter? The boy-who-lived?'

'Yes, Ron, and don't call him by his title, he's just a boy, even if he is Muggle-raised.' She said the last word scathingly.

'Sorry Mum. But surely that can't be Harry Potter? He looks nothing like him?'

'And how would you know what he looks like, Ron?'

'Well,' Ron hesitated. 'Uh, well, there're loads of pictures of him, aren't there. And the stories that we always hear about him looking like his father, James Potter. I've seen pictures of him, and he looks nothing alike. I mean, look at that tattoo for Merlin's sake, it's a snake!'

'Ronald! Don't swear!'

'Yes mum, sorry mum. But you have to admit; he looks nothing like a hero who defeated he-who-must-not-be-named! Looks more like a Slytherin to me.' Ron spat out the unfamiliar word.

'Yes, I do have to admit, Ronald, the tattoo is worrying.' Albus said.

'Perhaps we should have it taken off?' Molly said. 'I mean, it's hardly fitting for a Gryffindor, we'd be doing him a favour.'

'Yes, yes I do see your point Molly. Perhaps I should have it removed.'

Emerald heard something being drawn. His mind leapt to the conclusion that it was that stick. Maybe, if they were wizards, those sticks were actually wands?! He had to act, fast if he wanted to keep his last reminder of his past life. No doubt these people would've removed his gun and knife from his pockets, and any other items that while they would've dismissed as rubbish, had a special memory for him.

'But what if he doesn't go into Gryffindor, Albus?'

'That's our job, Remus. I would like Mr. Weasley here, Miss Weasley and Miss Granger to befriend our Mr. Potter here, and ensure that he's influenced towards the light. He needs to go into Gryffindor if he's to learn the correct ways of our world.'

There was another round of agreements with Albus's statement.

'But Professor, isn't he, well, you know, dangerous? Couldn't he threaten me and the girls?

'Nonsense Mr. Weasley. He has no wand, while the three of you have yours. We removed his Muggle weapons from him, and I'm perfectly sure that you can subdue him should he turn violent.'

'Yes, but Albus, I don't think that Harry needs to rely on his Muggle weapons. In fact, from the looks of him, I think that he is a weapon. Have you seen those muscles of his?' There was a slight envious undertone to the man's words. 'He must have worked really hard to achieve those.'

'He may have _some _muscles, Sirius, but he's far too thin for a child of his age. Once he's fully recovered, I'm sure that I can fatten him up a bit.'

'A very good idea, Molly. And now, I shall remove that awful tattoo from him.' He heard the man take a deep breath, and Emerald immediately decided that this was a good time to conveniently wake up, or escape. Either one worked for him.

Emerald opened his eyes and saw the long-bearded man standing over him holding his _wand_in his hand. He put a look of surprise on his face that was perfectly mirrored by the man and the people standing around him. Emerald instantly reacted, lashing out with his feet which connected with who he assumed to be Sirius and Remus, both of whom collapsed against the wall. He leapt past Albus and ran towards the door. He attempted to open it, but it refused to open. Swearing, he turned to face his opponents, his body in a fighting position.

However, none of the assembled people in the room were going towards him, instead, they held back at a distance, their wands in their hands. All but Albus had a worried look on their faces, and Remus and Sirius had a rueful look on their faces as they realized what had just happened to them.

'Harry –' Albus started.

'Emerald.' He corrected Albus. He wasn't allowing him to get the first punch in.

Albus sighed. 'Alright, Emerald, there's little point in trying to escape. The door is specifically locked against your magical aura, so it won't let you go I'm afraid.'

Emerald spat on the floor. Behind his back, he felt for the doorknob and tried to open it. It was no good. He sighed as he gave it up for a bad job. 'Fine, what do you people want with me?'

Albus smiled. 'We're going to help you, Har- Emerald.'

He laughed incredulously. 'Help me? You want to help me?'

'Yes.'

'So your definition of "help" is to follow me in the early hours of the morning, attack me and my friends, insult me, threaten me, remove treasured items from my unconscious body, try and change my physical appearance and then you want to turn me into a whole other person who doesn't exist? I've told you before, I'm, not, Harry, Potter! My name is Emerald!'

He saw Albus smile at him with pity, his eyes twinkling as he opened his mouth to say something. Emerald snapped completely. 'Don't you dare even try and make me feel guilty over something I've not done. Harry Potter, if he ever existed, is dead.'

If I ever was him, he died when he was thrown into the boot of a car and left there for four hours with half the amount of oxygen I needed. He died when he was punched by his uncle. He died when he attempted to tell someone, and was instead beaten by his uncle for it. He died when he was thrown into a cupboard when he was three, and he finally died happily when he realized that someone was willing to protect him at long last.'

'You, Albus Dumbledore, you dare claim that I ran away from a "loving", a "caring" home where I could've been happy? Shall I tell you what happened to that boy, Dumbledore? That boy who you dream about being a hero? He died, and if the boy who was with the Dursley's ever was Harry Potter, then he gave way to me, Emerald. I still dream of the constant attacks, the mental scaring, the sheer hatred I received from the Dursleys. I was a dog, Dumbledore, to them. A mistreated dog!'

An oppressing silence occurred as everyone in the room took in what they had just heard. Dumbledore looked completely shocked along with everyone else. Finally, it was Sirius who turned to Dumbledore.

'You,' he started with sheer anger in his voice. 'You condemned my godson, James and Lily's son, to that? You told me that they were safe with them, Albus. You told Remus that it wasn't in the best interests for Harry to live with him, for fear of being attacked. You failed, Albus. And you failed badly. You told us all that you would check up on Harry every week. Did you even go, Dumbledore? Or even worst, did you care?'

Albus just stood there, shocked to his core. 'I, I'm sorry Emerald. I just missed one week because of the Minister needing advice, and the next week I had to go do an important job, and I, I eventually just gave up. I kept forgetting to check on you.'

Emerald sneered at him. 'I don't want to hear it, Dumbledore. Just take me back. I have little interest in becoming a wizard.'

Albus shook his head, still remorseful. 'I'm sorry, my dear boy, but I can't. I can't tell you what exactly you're needed for, but your presence is important to the wizarding world.'

'For what? For a title that I was given? The-boy-who-lived? What does that even mean exactly? I know I'm alive, because I'm standing right here, talking to you now. Unwilling, I grant you, but I'm still here.'

'Like I said, Emerald,' Dumbledore was still plainly unwilling to use Emerald's name. 'I cannot tell you yet what you are needed for, but partly, yes, for the title.'

'Well why then? Go on, tell. What was so important that you had to kidnap me from everything I knew?'

Dumbledore sighed as a solemn mood hit the people in the room.

'It's a long story, Harry,' he ignored Emerald's objection. 'It all started on October 31st, 1981. You, with your parents, were in hiding at that time. It was at that time that a war in the wizarding world was going on. Lord Voldemort was trying to take over, while I, amongst other groups, was fighting against him.'

'Your parents were both responsible for several defeats of Lord Voldemort, and he tried to kill them. Thanks to a traitor amongst our ranks, however, he found them. He attacked that night. From what we know, he first killed your father, James, and then your mother, Lily. When Lily died, she invoked an ancient magic which gave you a shield against Lord Voldemort. He tried to kill you, but failed for some reason. He vanished into the wilderness, and we didn't see him again for a long time. His forces were captured and incarcerated, and that was the end of it, or so we thought.'

'Because you were the one who managed to banish Lord Voldemort, you achieved great fame in the wizarding world. Every child was raised hearing about how you defeated him. It was for that reason that I placed you with the Dursleys, so you wouldn't be corrupted by that fame, and turn out badly. I've known many people who became twisted because of fame, but it would've been all the more terrible had you gone down the same path as a mere child. Alas, I believed you were safe.'

'What followed was ten years of peace. Unfortunately, Voldemort wasn't gone. He possessed the body of one of my teachers, Quirinus Quirrell. Earlier that year, there was a special stone, the Philosopher's Stone. The possession of it would give it's owner the nesceary ingredient to create the Elixir of Life, which would turn any metal into gold, and would extend the life of it's creator by many, many years. It's owner, Nicolas Flamel, came to me and asked me to look after it, as he feared that some amongst the Goblins were working independently and could steal the Stone. I agreed to look after it in Hogwarts. I don't know how, but Lord Voldemort found out, and using Quirrell, he stole the stone and escaped. He created the Elixir of Life and brought himself back. Of course, I highly doubt he uses the stone anymore and has found some other way of remaining alive.'

'Lord Voldemort is back, Harry, and he has gathered his followers once again. The group you see before you,' he gestured to most of the people in the room. 'Are part of a group, the Order of the Phoenix, which I lead against Lord Voldemort. Sadly, we haven't had much impact against his forces, neither has the Ministry of Magic. Morale in the country is dire. This is where you come in, Harry. The reemergence of Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived will boost morale in the wizarding world, and may hopefully assist the Order in our goals to defeat Lord Voldemort.' He finally stopped, smiling at Emerald. 'So you see, my dear boy, this is why we need you.'

Emerald stared at them all in shock, before he burst out laughing. 'Oh, my god. Pathetic! Have you listened to yourselves? First of all, Lord _Voldemort_? What the hell kind of name is that? And why the hell have you all been flinching every time someone says that? Christ, it's a bloody name! And Dumbledore, I have little pleasure in becoming your propaganda tool for the masses. I have led my life independent of all others. My life does not belong to the wizarding world, or to your Order, or even you. In fact, who the hell are you anyway?'

'I am Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Supreme Warlock of-'

Emerald interrupted him. 'You're a headmaster?'

Dumbledore halted. 'Well, yes.'

'What is the primary function of a Headmaster?'

'Well, well it's…well, a headmaster makes all major decisions concerning the school. But I really don't see what this has to do with-'

'Exactly! The School! Not me. In fact, what business do you even have in the war? A headmaster is meant to help in school, not to kidnap people and lead groups. Your primary purpose is to help children! So where the hell do you get off in doing this?'

'Well…I…' Dumbledore hesitated, before thinking of a response. 'Well, Mr. Potter. Your name has been on Hogwarts' list of students ever since you were born. Therefore, as Headmaster, I have ever right in bringing you to Hogwarts.'

Emerald shrugged. 'Then I have no wish to go to Hogwarts.'

Dumbledore laughed incredulously. 'My boy, Hogwarts is the greatest wizard school in the world. Nowhere can compare to it. Besides, I have a responsibility to your parents to ensure that you get a decent education.'

'Well, even _if _I wanted to become a wizard, it would be my choice to which school I wanted to go to. And you've just admitted that Hogwarts isn't the only school in the world. Therefore, if I'm going to be forced into this, I want to know all about the other schools before I make my choice. And that includes interviews and tours.'

Dumbledore was completely dumbstruck. 'Mr. Potter, while that would normally be the case, this isn't the case for you. Firstly, there's a war going on, so all borders between us and other countries is closed. Therefore, even if we wanted to, you couldn't go to another school. Secondly, you would need the permission from the Ministry of Magic, and once they find out about you, then believe me, they will not let you go. And finally, you are far too old. No school would accept you at this stage of your life.'

'Oh…' Emerald couldn't think of any other reasons. 'Well fuck.'

'Well put, Mr. Potter. Well put.' Dumbledore's face showed a sign of amusement, along with everyone else's face apart from Molly.

'Well, I'm not a wizard though; I've never shown any ability of that kind!'

'Really Harry?' Dumbledore said with a small smile at the edge of his lips. 'Can you honestly say that nothing strange has ever happened to you that no one else can do?'

'Of course no-' Emerald's mind suddenly snapped back to a old job he'd once done. A bank job. It had been a success and a failure at the same time. They had managed to steal around £100,000, but at the cost of two lives. The police were just behind them, but Emerald had somehow done something, he'd hidden the truck that he and the others were in. They were in plain view, but they weren't…it was as though they were invisible. At the time, Emerald had put it down to luck, but now that he thought back…

Emerald growled. What was he going to do? His arguments had all been blasted apart; he had no way of escaping. There was only one thing that he could do. Cooperate until he could escape, and in the meantime, get as much out of it as possible. First things first, he needed some equipment from his home, and most importantly, he needed to see Shell.

He looked at Dumbledore. 'Look, _if_ I go to Hogwarts, I want some things.'

'Well, my dear boy, it depends upon the suitability of them.'

'Well, can I at least ask you _in private_?' He said, pointedly looking at the surrounding people.

He smiled, 'but of course, Harry.'

'Emerald.'

'My friends, if you'd please, I believe me and "Emerald" here have some discussion to take place.'

With a last curious look behind them, the assembled people left the room. As soon as they were gone, Dumbledore turned to Emerald.

'So then, Mr. Potter, what is it you want?'

Emerald, just about to start yelling at Dumbledore again controlled his emotions. Why wouldn't the old bastard realize that his name was Emerald? He took a deep breath before beginning. 'Well, Dumbledore, I would like several things. Firstly, that I be allowed to go back to the ganghouse and gather some treasured items of mine. To prove that I won't run away, you can provide me with one of your Order members, preferably someone young who won't be as shocked about some of the things we get up to in there. Second, I am not returned to the Dursleys, otherwise, I cannot assure their safety. Instead, I will be returning to the ganghouse every holiday. I will not be returning to the Dursleys.

Dumbledore's face grew grim. 'Harry, I hope you're not suggesting what I think you're suggesting about the Dursleys.'

'Well, if you mean am I going to get them, tie them up, gut them, use various objects to disembowel them, stab them, punch them, kick them, and in conclusion pay them back ten times what they did to me, then you are correct.'

Dumbledore sighed. 'Harry, I know that what the Dursley's did was cruel, but surely you can find it in your heart to forgive them.'

Emerald snarled. 'Look here, Dumbledore. My name isn't Harry Potter, accept it. He died a long time ago. Maybe I could've once been your hero, your inspiration. But I'm not. Harry Potter was killed a long time ago. I'm not sorry either. My life may have not been the most ideal ever, but I don't regret a single moment of it. Now, will you accept my deal or not. Should you refuse, then I promise that I can make your life difficult. You need a hero and an inspiration, and you need me to do that. Without me, you're in trouble.'

Dumbledore sighed. 'Emerald, I can send someone to collect the items that you need and if you want, I can have them deliver a message to them as well. As for the Dursley's, in light of your previous trials, I have decided that you won't have to return to the Dursley's completely, however, you must return occasionally. As much as it pains me to have you return to that place, the blood wards there must be restored.'

'Well, how long then?' Emerald was resigned to his fate, at least, for now.

'I believe a week should suffice, after that, you can come back here for the remainder of the holidays.'

'No.' Emerald said. He refused to give up on this particular part.

'No?'

'No, as in I will not return here summer after summer. I have my own allies and friends, and they do not involve the wizarding world. If I have to complete my studies, then I assure you, I will not be remaining in the Wizarding world, but rather, my world.'

Dumbledore frowned at that, Harry couldn't return to the Muggle world afterwards, he was far too important to his plans. The wizarding world needed to be reformed. The Ministry of Magic was far too corrupt to do any real good. Hardly any Death Eaters had been captured, and those who had were those unable to pay off the officials, or had done something to upset their master.

Dumbledore had done what he could to reform the Ministry. They had managed to remove the previous Minister of Magic temporarily as he was found to be corrupt and accepted too many bribes. Of course, when the Wizengamot had come to choose their new successor, the Wizengamot had been split into two factions. The faction for the light, and the faction for the dark. As it was necessary for at least three quarters of the Wizengamot to confirm the newly headed Minister of Magic. The result of this was that there was no overall leader of the Ministry, only Department Heads that more often than not were in rivalry against each other, causing for a serious deterioration in efficiency and government issues.

What was needed was a proper figurehead, somebody just like Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived. Once he had defeated Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters, the position of purebloods everywhere would be in jeopardy, and that would create a vacuum of power that Dumbledore had already planned to fill. However, to do that, the Boy-Who-Lived was needed, at the very least for his endorsement of the candidate that Dumbledore would have to choose, if he couldn't use Harry. Still, he had all of the school years to convince him otherwise.

'Harry, I cannot in all good conscience allow you to go back to the ganghouse. It is far too dangerous, and we have no safeguards against Lord Voldemort or his Death Eaters there. I'm sorry, but you cannot go back. That bleak period of your life is over.'

Emerald felt himself grow even more pissed off, if that was even possible. How dare that man try and tell him what to do, he had no idea of what Emerald had gotten through in his years. His entire life had been spent with the gang; he had loved with them, fought with them. If asked to give up his life for them, he would've agreed without a hesitation.

Rick, the cool, laidback guy who could never be surprised. He was always willing to lend a hand, always willing to have a laugh, always willing to fight to the end for his friends. He had always been willing to fight to save his friends, you couldn't ask for a more loyal friend when you were in need.

And Shell, beautiful Shell. She was another cool type, but was prone to all kinds of emotions when she got enough into it. She was willing to do anything for her friends, and she had always been willing to do anything for Emerald. He had never really thought about it, but he had realized that Shell had always held a torch for him. He had just never noticed it before.

'Dumbledore, for now, I have no choice. But one day, one day you'll push me too far, and then you'll regret it. You're close to that line now, so you better watch what you say. Don't forget now that we killed four of your guys, and we've wounded another six. Let's not make it more now, shall we?'

'Now then,' Emerald said, folding his arms. 'I just need one item, you got it? Just one.'

'And that would be?'

'A electric guitar. I assume that you know what one of them looks like, right?'

Dumbledore shook his head, causing Emerald to groan. 'Do you not have anyone from my world that's in your precious Order?'

'Well, yes, in fact I do. I know someone. Yes, I think that Tonks ought to get it for you. Do you have a message that you wish to give to anyone?'

'Yeah, but I'm not telling it to you. You got any paper?'

Dumbledore pulled out his wand and conjured out of nowhere a piece of paper and a quill with ink. Emerald picked up the quill with disgust. 'What the hell is this meant to be?'

Dumbledore looked confused. 'I assumed you knew how to write, perhaps if I-'

'No! I can write and read perfectly well, I'm on about the fact that quills went out at least a hundred years ago, if not more! Have you people never heard of biros? Pens? Not even pencils?'

'We don't use those Muggle contractions. The Wizarding world as a whole likes tradition, and Quills are a large part of that.'

Emerald shook his head in disgust. What the hell was he getting into? He dipped the pen into the ink and started writing down his message before handing it to Dumbledore. At Dumbledore's inquisitive look, Emerald shrugged. 'No point looking, it's my own personal code. Many have tried to break it before, but I'm afraid that none of them have ever succeeded.'

Dumbledore nodded. 'I will respect your privacy and won't read it despite the temptation that it offers to me.' He smiled at Emerald. 'I may as well tell you some things about what'll happen tomorrow.

Emerald shrugged. 'Fine then. It's not like I have a choice.'

Dumbledore smiled. 'Excellent. Right, first of all, Hogwarts will have provided you with your schoolbooks. You will also be receiving a wand at a later date, but for now you'll have to make do with practical magical theory, as we won't have enough time to get you a wand. You will be taken to the train station tomorrow along with the others and will head off to Hogwarts. Now, at Hogwarts, we will be having a very special event. I may as well tell you now, but I must ask you to not tell anyone else of this.'

'This year, Hogwarts will be hosting the Triwizard tournament. Now, I realize that you have no idea what it is exactly, so I may as well tell you. The Triwizard tournament is a competition held between three schools, Hogwarts and two other schools in Bulgaria and France. However, it had been banned for quite a while as sadly one challenger died every time. However, this year, to try and cheer up our students and distract them from the war, we have decided to host it again. If all goes well, we will continue with the Triwizard tournament every four years.'

'Ok. Well, as long as you don't involve me in it. I have no intention of doing anything that I don't want to. I just want to get this over with without any complications. I just want to go home, Dumbledore. That's it. Understand?'

'Perfectly. Now, I'm sure that Sirius will be kind enough to take you to your bedroom. May as well get a couple of hours in, from what I've heard, you've been up for more than a day.'

'Whatever,' Emerald said dismissively as he walked to the door where he was greeted by Sirius, who looked him up and down. 'Yes, I'm cute. Get over it.' He sneered as Sirius bristled at the implication. Emerald waited for a moment. Sirius still hadn't moved. 'Well, where's my bedroom then?'

Sirius simply turned on his heels and walked up the stairs, obviously expecting Emerald to follow him. Emerald sighed. It looked as though he didn't have a choice.

As Sirius left him after showing him the bedroom door in which he would be staying, Emerald sighed. What the hell had he just been drawn into?

He opened the door and was confronted by the sight of the redhead, Ron and the bushy-haired girl. As soon as he had opened the door, the two of them looked up at him, Ron with some hostility and the bushy-haired girl with pure curiosity. It was the girl who first talked to him.

She immediately got up and walked towards him, holding out a hand and talking rapidly.

'Hi, I'm Hermione Granger, you're Emerald aren't you? We went to your concert yesterday. Are you really Harry Potter? Why did you have a gun earlier? Why did you go all crazy on me, Ginny and Ron? Why did you-'

'Enough!' Emerald shouted. 'Look, strange person who talks too much, stop. I have a headache, I was just kidnapped and brought here for some random reason, I keep being told I'm a person called Harry Potter, I'm being forced to go to a school for wizards, I don't know where I am, I'm unable to get back to my home, I've just lost my friends, my girlfriend and my home. So if I'm not in the mood to talk to a crazy girl who really needs to brush her hair, I'm sure you'll forgive me.' And with that, Emerald, knowing that he'd never get any peace if he stayed in that room turned around and left to try and find another bedroom. It wasn't until an hour later with no sign of human life that he finally found a small room with a sofa that he finally managed to get some sleep.

--

Several hours later, Emerald woke from the sofa, his neck hurting like hell. He'd slept on it at an awkward angle. Cursing as he got up, he stretched himself, before suddenly hearing a gasp. Emerald immediately reacted, dropping onto his knees, tensed up and ready to lash out at any potential enemies. However, all he saw was a shocked-looking pink-haired attractive woman in her twenties who was staring at his bare body. Emerald grinned as he realized that she was checking him out. It seemed that some things never changed. It was lucky for the woman that he was wearing underwear, from what he'd got of the wizarding world, they were all mostly prudes. If she had seen everything, she'd no doubt be a quivering mess.

'Umm…hello? Who are you?' Emerald asked, hesitantly.

The pink-haired woman snapped out of what appeared to be a very long thought, or a very vivid imagination.

'Oh right, yeah, sorry about that. I was, was, um…' Her eyes had drifted down Emerald's body again. He rolled his eyes as he clicked his fingers together, getting her attention.

'Look, whoever you are, I know that I'm sexy, I'm attractive and that I'm apparently the "Boy-Who-Lived", but it doesn't mean I appreciate being stared at all the time. It doesn't make much conversation, I find. So let's start with the basics, who are you?'

'I'm Tonks, and Dumbledore sent me to get some stuff for you, like you asked.'

Emerald brightened. 'Did you get my guitar?'

Tonks smiled. 'This one?' She held out one of the most treasured items that Emerald had ever known. His electric guitar. It had served him well for a long time. Ever since he'd bought it from a second-hand dealer. He'd been through quite a lot with this baby. As he took it from Tonks, he cradled it like a baby, smiling.

'So then,' Tonks said. 'I hear you're a Muggle rockstar. I think that Hermione, Ron and Ginny went to your concert yesterday. I'm just sad I missed it, I was told by Hermione that it was quite an experience.'

'Oh yeah, yeah we've been playing for around three years. It's been a hell of a lot of fun, I'm telling you. We got up to quite a few things. It was quite a moneymaker as well. Doesn't look like I'll be able to do that any more, though.' His face fell as he realized that he was still trapped here.

'So then, I guess I'm going to Hogwarts then today.' Emerald said unenthusiastically.

'No need to sound all depressed. I know that you've been cut a rough deal, Harry, but it isn't bad once you get used to it.'

Emerald winced at the sound of that name. 'Listen, Tonks, can you please not call me Harry? Like I keep having to tell Dumbledore, Harry Potter, if I ever was him, died a long time ago. I'm tired of having to tell people this.'

Tonks nodded. 'I know what you mean, Emerald. It's kinda the same with me as well. My first name is the worst ever, so I basically have to threaten people to call me by my last name, Tonks.'

Emerald grinned. 'What's your first name then?'

Tonks smirked. 'Like I'm going to tell you that.'

Emerald nodded as he collapsed back on the sofa. 'Yeah, I wouldn't tell me anything either. I'm likely to blackmail people, knowing me.'

Tonks looked him up and down, causing Emerald to smirk at her, which then caused Tonks to blush again. 'So, you must've put a lot of time into your body to get abs like that.'

Emerald shrugged. 'Well, yeah at the start it did. I started when I was twelve and I did six hours training a day at the gym. After around two years, I lessened it down to a couple of hours, and this year all I do is just a bit of jogging to keep me going.'

'Yeah…' Her eyes travelled to his tattoo. 'That's a sweet tattoo you got there.' Emerald nodded as he rubbed it unconsciously.

'Yeah, it's basically my favorite kind of animal really, a snake.'

'Oh yeah? Any particular kind of snake?'

Emerald shrugged. 'Well, yeah, but I'm kind of uncomfortable telling people it, because it's like giving up information about my character.'

Tonks shrugged. 'Oh, and by the way Emerald, I do know one thing about your character.'

Emerald raised an eyebrow. 'And what might that be?'

'That you're one to keep secrets, that and you're a dark horse.'

She tossed something at Emerald who caught it in mid-flight. Looking at it, he felt a familiar sense of warmness. It was that stick, that, _wand_. He looked at Tonks, startled.

'Its magical aura attracted me to it instantly. Apparently, you're compatible with it so it'll work for you Harry. I don't know how you got it, but I do have a feeling that you don't want Dumbledore finding out about it, am I correct?' Emerald nodded. 'Well, you don't have to worry then. I won't tell.' She winked at him and turned to leave. 'Oh, one more thing, Emerald. That girl of yours, Shell, she told me to tell you that "She'll be seeing you sooner than you think". Winking one more time at Emerald, she left him.

Emerald sighed. Something told him that this year would be very complicated…

--

Around four hours later, Emerald found himself, along with the others, at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. He had finally met the elusive third member of Hermione and Ron's group, Ginny Weasley. When he had seen her, she talked to him and made several suggestive advances. However, for some reason, Emerald knew that her heart wasn't really into it. It looked as though she was trying to convince herself of something. While Emerald did have his suspicions, he dismissed them, knowing that they weren't any of his concern.

There were a huge crowd of people there already, talking to their parents and school friends. Quite a lot of people looked at him as well. Today, Emerald had forgone his usual cloak that covered him up. He allowed his full features to show. What amused him most though was the amount of looks he was generating from the girls at the station. Nearly all of them were interested. Something told him that this was going to be a good school if all the girls were like this.

Flanking him were two people (who he assumed) who were in the Order, namely Tonks and a big black guy, who looked like he could handle himself in a fight. Behind him were Hermione, Ron and Ginny. Emerald sneered at the thought of them. He remembered the conversation held over him earlier on, if they thought that he was going to reduce himself to becoming friends with those people, then they had another thing coming. Not only was Ron filled with jealousy over Emerald, but Hermione herself was an irritable know-it-all. While he appreciated their usefulness in some cases, he knew that unless you could apply that knowledge, it was worthless.

Finally, after getting on the train, the trio dumped their trunks in the corner of the compartment and sat down, pointedly ignoring him. Emerald smirked, like that was going to bother him. The silence was starting to bother him though. He felt frustrated, bored. Normally he'd be up to something with one of the gang members.

After around five minutes of this, the train still hadn't taken off, and the people inside of the compartment were all still silent. Emerald groaned in boredom and stood up, getting the attention of everyone.

'Where are you going?' Ron asked, hostility in his voice.

Emerald ignored him and just walked out, grabbing his trunk that had been made feather-light, curtsey of Tonks. He wanted to find an empty compartment, somewhere where he could be alone, hopefully in a more private setting. Unfortunately for him, that wasn't guaranteed as when he passed the wizards and witches, they either stared at him in amazement, lust, jealousy or just outright hostility.

Finally, finding an empty compartment, he dumped his trunk in the room, sat down, put his legs up and took out his electric guitar. He suddenly realized something. If the wizarding world still used Quills and still were very traditional, did that mean they didn't have electricity? He was really worried now.

But still, that was a problem that he would face later. For now, he was content to just strum his guitar, play familiar songs that he used to play at concerts, and dream about his home and his friends. He remembered various fights, gang wars, shootouts, loves, friends, sex, parties; he remembered the life he used to lead. And the more he thought about it, the more he realized how much hatred he now felt for Dumbledore. The man would pay, one day.

--

Well, Emerald thought, the train was certainly a disappointment. He'd managed to get his peace and quiet, that was true, but in return he'd received at least half of the school passing his compartment, and another three quarters of that half going back for another look. Emerald wasn't unused to attention, but this was just pathetic now. If he was getting all this attention now, just imagine what it'll be like when Dumbledore informs the entire school of my title and my "name". Is it so hard for him to just use his name that he'd been brought up in? Emerald! It's not a hard word, Em-er-ald. Even a bloody baby could say that!

He had then been stuck on some crappy boat, having been basically dragged over there by a massive giant of a man, had his hand shaken reverently by him, received a strange look at his tattoo because of it and had been forced into a boat with three first year students, all of whom looked at him in fear. It was enough to drive anyone crazy!

And now, while everyone else had gone inside what he had heard that teacher, McGonagall, call the first years into the Great Hall to get Sorted, he had been informed to wait outside, and had also received a very disapproving eye from McGonagall as well for the clothes he was wearing.

Actually, he couldn't blame her on that point. But he may as well have got the message out, robes were shit! Especially on girls, as it covered up their bodies. There was no way that he was wearing one. So, he decided to wear his own clothing. Now, he wasn't too sure entirely whether it was the words on Emerald's clothes that had caused McGonagall's face to become completely pale, but surely the words "fuck you", "if you get in my way, I'm going to kill you" and "Like dick? I got plenty of it" weren't that bad, were they?

Finally, he heard Dumbledore standing up; this was his "big moment".

'And now, my dear students, I have several announcements to make to you. Firstly, as we all know, the forbidden forest is precisely that, forbidden. A list of banned items can be found on Mr. Filch's door. And sadly, Quidditch will not be taking place this year.'

A large noise broke out, mostly filled with questions and moaning. Emerald rolled his eyes, what the hell was Quidditch?

'Silence!' The room instantly became silent. Emerald rolled his eyes. Bunch of sheep.

'Instead of Quidditch, a very special event will be taking place this year in October next month. I am pleased to announce that we have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event which has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year.'

At that, there was a massive explosion of noise. From what Emerald could tell from standing outside of the doorway, he believed that Dumbledore allowed the noise to continue for at least several minutes. Emerald shook his head in disgust, leading a gang had taught him several skills. Firstly, you couldn't allow noise unless they had a decent point. It appeared that there was no discipline whatsoever in the school.

Finally, 'Silence!' Dumbledore cried out. Again, complete silence. Maybe Dumbledore did have some ideas of leadership, but even so, Emerald could hear some lowered conversations going on between various students. Dumbledore really needed to get some lessons in leading.

'Now, I have one more very, very important announcement. It has been fifteen years since the defeat of Lord Voldemort. Unfortunately, he returned three years ago. However, we still remember the ten year peace we had in between those times. And it was all thanks to one person. Lost for those fifteen years, we had feared that we would never find that person. However, I can now inform you that we have found him. I would like to announce the return of, Harry, Potter!'

Emerald waited. He would not budge until he had his real name. He assumed that he had been meant to go through the door at that point. He folded his arms and waited for his true name to be announced instead.

'Harry Potter!'

Nope, he was still going to wait.

Harry Potter!' That sentence was now yelled desperately.

Emerald sighed and rolled his eyes, may as well give the man a clue. He raised his hands to his mouth, enhancing the volume of the words.

'Emerald!'

'Harry Potter!'

'Emerald!'

'Harry Potter!'

'Emerald!'

'Harr- oh forget it. Emerald.' The last sentence was said dejectedly.

Emerald smirked and walked through the doors. A shocked silence hit the hall immediately as he walked through up to where the Headmaster was standing along with McGonagall and some weird old hat. He raised an eyebrow as he noted the huge stares coming his way. Okay, this was getting pretty weird now.

Suddenly, he noticed two girls sitting on a bench who were staring at him, dumbstruck. Emerald felt his own face do the same, and he halted in the middle of the hall. Lavender and Parvati! He pointed at them, mouthing "what the hell are you two doing here?"

They started mouthing back.

"Never mind us, what are you doing here?"

"I got kidnapped and forced to come here, you?"

"We're both witches, have been since eleven. What do you mean kidnapped?"

"After you two left me, I went home, got ambushed by Dumbledore and his ilk and forced to come here."

Meanwhile, the assembled students and teachers noticed the mouthing conversation going on between Emerald and the two gossip queens of Gryffindor. McGonagall coughed.

'Mr. Potter, if you could please come and sit on the stool.'

Emerald broke off from his conversation, glaring at McGonagall. 'Ok, for the benefit of everyone here, do not call me Harry, Potter, Potty, Hazza or any abbreviations on that name. You will call me Emerald. Failure to comply will result in pain. Not just any pain, but mega pain.'

He walked up to the stool, sitting down and suddenly felt a hat put on his head. Instantly, a voice broke out.

'Hmm, difficult, quite difficult. You have a lot of potential, Emerald. I believe that every Founder of the four houses would fight tooth and nail to keep you in their house. You show a great loyalty to your friends and allies, and you'd even die for those that you left behind. You show great cunning and ambition, that is, to take over most of Muggle London. You also show great courage as you have proven yourself many times under fire. And you show great intelligence, as you've put it to good use. Any house would be proud to have you. You've even saved friends, and sadly have put some out of their misery. You have led a very difficult life, Emerald.'

'But there's only one house for you,'

The Hat took a deep breath.

'……'

**Lol, cliffie! It's all up to you. Go to my account page and you'll see a poll. There, you can decide where Emerald can go. Oh, and please, for the love of God, don't let it be Slytherin. I seriously have no idea where to go with Slytherin. Any other houses, I can do them fine, but if you do choose Slytherin, the story may not turn out as good as it could be.**

**Oh, and btw, thanks to all your reviews, this is the most pages I've ever done! And the most words! Over 9000, read them and weep!**


	7. Better be Slytherin!

Better Be…Slytherin

**Better Be…Slytherin**

**By the way, I know you all chose Slytherin to spite me, -looks at them all evilly- well, u made the choice, so I'll try and write it anyway. Enjoy!**

'Better be…Slytherin!'

Three of the Houses at the sound of the words, "Slytherin", remained obtusely silent. Only a few of the Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw students cheered. However, the Slytherin table remained shockingly silent. Most of their member's faces were shocked and very much disturbed. Many of them had plans boiling away in their minds, and only a few clapped. The head of Slytherin House, Professor Snape, was even more shocked. When his neighbouring professor waved a hand in front of his face, he showed no emotion at all. He was just…blank.

Emerald sneered as he got up and headed towards the green table. Smirking slightly at the banner of a snake, he slightly dipped his head in respect towards the banner, unnoticed by most, but a few.

Albus Dumbledore was one of those most heavily concerned. This could prove a potential problem with his overall plans. Should Harry defeat the Dark Lord, but was in Slytherin when he did it, he could be set up as the next Dark Lord. Harry was very much critical to his plans to modernise the Wizarding world, but he couldn't do that otherwise. He'd have to talk to the boy later, see if he could arrange a resorting.

As he sat down, most of the Slytherins edged themselves away, apart from a few, including a golden-white haired boy who looked very much like an aristocrat, a bit like Shell in fact, and a raven-black haired girl, who showed no emotion. The girl in particular was someone to notice, as she had startling looks. Her friend, a pretty brunette girl, who was sat to the side of her started to whisper in her ear, looking at Emerald maliciously.

Dumbledore stood up again after having momentarily collapsed onto his chair after the announcement of Emerald's House. He coughed, getting instant silence. 'I only have two words to say to you,' he told them, his deep voice echoing around the Great Hall. '_Tuck in_.'

Suddenly, in front of Emerald appeared entire plates, platters and bowls full of food. Roast beef, roast chicken, sausages, pork chops, steak and kidney pudding, steak and kidney pie, black pudding for the meet. Roast potatoes, jacket potatoes, boiled and mashed, chips, Yorkshire pudding all that kind of food. There wasn't much in vegetables, as all that Emerald could see were sprouts, carrots and peas. He grimaced at the clearly unhealthy and high cholesterol food that was present. Had they never heard of vegetarian meals? If he wanted to keep up his healthy body, then it looked like Emerald was going to have to work out a lot more than he had been doing recently.

Rubbing his eyes and ignoring all the stares and glares that he was receiving from the House, he got up and walked towards the Gryffindor table. He was going to need a word with those two girls.

As he walked across the Hall, he gained a lot of attention, mainly from the students, who had never before in their school life had seen a Slytherin voluntarily walk over to the Gryffindor table, unless, of course, it was to start trouble. Hoping to see a fight, they nudged their friends and pointed in the direction of Emerald. As he drew closer to Lavender and Parvati, the two girls who had been whispering in each other's ears saw where the looks of their fellow Gryffindor's on the opposite end of the table to them, and turned around themselves to see Emerald coming towards them.

Their faces changed from uncertainty, to a pleased look, to a curious look. Both of them moved to their sides to create a space in the middle of the pair so that Emerald could sit down next to them both. As Emerald sat between them both, they grinned at him, causing him to grin back.

'So then, you're both witches. I gotta say, that's certainly unusual for me. In fact, I don't think I've ever dated a witch before, let alone two of them at the same time.'

Parvati flashed him a glare. 'Ha, bloody, ha. What the hell are you doing here, Emerald? And how are you Harry Potter?'

'Well, it's actually quite a story. Apparently Dumbles up there couldn't leave me alone for "the Greater Good" and proceeded to kidnap me because he wanted to use me as Propaganda against Lord what's-his-name, Voldimort? Velvetmort? Moldymort? I forget. Anyways, basically I'm being forced to come here, being dragged out of the only world I know kicking and screaming into a whole new world where I'm constantly being stared at and basically, I don't know anyone except you two. So, guess what? You've just won the lucky prize of having me come around with you two.' He grinned at them mischievously.

'Well, how can we ever say no to a pretty face like that then?' Lavender grinned, her mind obviously coming up with something. 'I'm pretty sure we can find some things to do to pass the time.'

'Yeah, maybe beat up racists, threaten bouncers, all that kind of thing, eh Emerald?' Parvati smirked at him.

'You got it in one, Parv.'

The three of them burst out laughing, watched by most of the students in the Great Hall. Once they'd calmed down, Emerald had some questions for the pair.

'So what is there to do around here? Any decent nightclubs? Bands?'

Parvati and Lavender looked uneasy. 'Actually, I've found that the Wizarding world is really dull.' Lavender said. 'While we're in school, there are no places like that around here. There is a town that third year students and above can go to every two weeks, so that's alright.'

'Please tell me that there's a decent nightlife around here.'

The two of them shook their heads sadly. Emerald froze, before he groaned. 'Why the hell did I have to come here? What god did I upset, or what did I do in my past life that was so bad?'

'I don't know, knowing you though, you were probably a gang member and did all kinds of stuff.'

'Yeah, you're probably right.' Emerald sighed, not realising that Parvati was joking. 'So then, how come you two didn't tell me? It's not like I would burn you at the stake or anything.'

'Well, that's kinda the problem. Wizards treat Muggles, people without magical ability, like dirt. They made all these laws restricting Wizard and Muggle access between each other, which includes the Statues of Wizarding Secrecy. Basically, we can't tell you anything about the Wizarding world unless we did something like marry you or something. But, let's face it, your hardly marriage material, are you?'

'I'm hurt, I truly am.' Emerald said dryly, causing the two girls to giggle.

'So then, you're a slimy Slytherin?'

'Looks like, I don't really understand the House systems though, so I don't really see the big deal.'

'Well, it kinda is a big deal to Wizards who go here. Basically, the Sorting Hat takes your abilities and character and sorts you into the House that sorts you best. For example, us, Gryffindors, we're braver than anything else. Hufflepuff,' Lavender pointed to a banner above a table that was yellow. 'They're known for being really loyal to their friends, and are hard working. Ravenclaw,' she pointed to another table that were dressed in blue colours. 'They're known for their book-smarts. Parvati's twin sister is in Ravenclaw, so make sure you don't confuse the two otherwise you'll have an angry Gryffindor after you. And of course, there's Slytherin. Known for their cunning and ambition.'

'Also known for being Dark Lords and Death Eater scum!' An angry voice said. The three of them looked up to see Ron Weasley sitting just a few rows below from them.

'You got a problem, Weasley?' Emerald said coldly, instantly regaining the attention of most of the Great Hall that had allowed their attention to reluctantly drift from Emerald when no signs of any trouble-making were going on.

'Yeah, I got a problem.'

'Is it the size of your manhood? Because, I got to tell you Weasley, it isn't normal for a guy to have so little down there.'

Ron turned instantly red. 'Why you-'

'Gorgeous hunk of a man? Why thank you, although I'm afraid I don't bend your way.'

Ron growled with anger.

'Is there something wrong with your throat? Maybe you'd better go see the school nurse, give you some cough drops.'

'Sod off you filthy Slytherin.'

Emerald looked up and down himself in mock-shock. 'Why Weasley, your right, I am a Slytherin! But filthy, well, not so much as you Weasley. Have you ever considered trying to eat properly? As in, using a plate rather than your robe?' Emerald's eyes looked up and down at the food splattered robe that Ron wore. He instantly flushed.

Emerald smirked at Ron before he turned back to the two girls. 'So as I was saying-'

Emerald suddenly found the back of his shirt being pulled on and he found himself thrown to the floor. Ron stood above him, a triumphant look on his face. As Emerald stood up, his face completely blank, Ron started to boast as he turned towards the Gryffindor table. 'Yeah, not so hard now are you, Potter?'

BAM!

Ron suddenly found his nose broken and bleeding everywhere. Emerald stood above him.

'Lesson one, Weasley. Never turn away from ouse that suits your abiliyour opponent. Lesson two, whenever you're on the ground; make sure you keep your weak points protected. Already, you have failed Lesson two already. For example,' he kicked the boy in the groin. 'And another example, he kicked him in the throat, causing him to retch dryly.

'Mr. Potter!' A shrieking voice cried out from the Teacher's table as McGonagall hurried over to them. 'Yes, problem?'

'Detention for the next month with me!'

'Yeah, I'm going to be busy on those days. Maybe we should reschedule, possibly when I've left school. I'll get my diary, you get your diary, we'll compare days in which we're free, and then we'll-'

'Silence!' She turned towards the Head table. 'Severus, help me out here.'

Severus stood up proudly. 'Your damn right I'll help. Mr. Weasley, twenty points from Gryffindor for attacking a student from behind!'

McGonagall spluttered. 'But what about Mr. Potter's blatant assault on Mr. Weasley?'

Severus's face became confused. 'I didn't see anything of the sort. I only saw Mr. Weasley attack our Mr. Potter as he insulted Slytherin House. Mr. Potter was merely trying to defend himself from further assault from Mr. Weasley.' He turned back to Emerald. 'Mr. Potter, if you could please go sit yourself back down at your designated House.' He turned to go back to the Teacher's table, while McGonagall levitated the helpless Weasley to the hospital wing. Emerald smirked as he saw the looks on the faces of the students in the Houses. Slytherin especially had changed quite a bit. There were quite a lot of faces of approval, and some of outright admiration. However, others remained bitterly hostile. Yes, they were definitely a pack of snakes. And he would become its king. If they were impressed by that little show with Weasley, then how would they react when he unleashed his full power? He doubted that any Slytherin would escape without at least a few bruises and broken bones. And he highly doubted that he would suffer much in return, by either the Slytherins or the Headmaster.

As he sat down in his seat, the blonde-white haired kid came up to Emerald.

'Harry Potter?' He said in a posh voice.

'No, my name is Emerald.'

'Of course, Emerald. My name is Draco Malfoy, and can I just say that you did an excellent job on the Weasel.'

Emerald smirked. 'He'd been asking for it all day.'

'Yes, he does get like that. He's of the weaker families.'

'Yes, if you say so. However, I have no idea what you're on about with families. If you don't know, then I was born in the Muggle world and was raised by Muggles. I know nothing about you and your world, and quite frankly, I don't really care.'

'Hmm, well, I'm afraid that I wouldn't understand your Muggle ways either, but from the looks of things, it appears as though you're outnumbered and have little intelligence on our world. I can help you there.' Draco held out his hand to Emerald.

Emerald stared at it. What should he do? If he wanted to make his time as comfortable as possible, then he'd need to take over Slytherin. And while he could probably do that through brute force, there was always other ways. Perhaps this Draco could help him on that road, and if not, well, there was always the possibility of having a minion below him to help. Yes, he had met people like him before. They believed themselves to be better than anyone else, and on occasions they were. However, the majority of them were basically weak. They were easily corrupted and would follow anyone who they believed would make them great. Of course, most of the time once their leader had completed their goal, they would abandon them. Still, if Draco proved useful, he would have a better reputation in Slytherin.

He shook Draco's hand.

In the Slytherin common room, Emerald shuddered. Why, in God's name, did someone decide to choose a dungeon for a bloody common room? Not only was it damp and cold, but it was in a bloody dungeon! How no one else felt the cold, Emerald had no idea, but come on? How was it healthy for a child whose immune systems weren't fully functional yet to spend all their time in a place like this? It was amazing that the whole of Slytherin didn't have colds all the time!

Draco had immediately led Emerald to his "associates", or in Emerald's eyes, toadies. He introduced them all to Emerald.

'Emerald, this is Crabbe,' Ape number 1 grunted. 'Goyle,' Ape number 2 grunted. 'And Pansy.' Ape number three nodded in his direction.'

'So then, Potter.' Pansy said.

'Emerald,' Emerald said automatically.

'Emerald then. Where have you been over the years?'

Emerald shrugged. 'I've been living in London along with friends of mine.'

'In the Muggle world?' Pansy had a look of disgust on her face.

'Yes, in the _Muggle _world.'

Pansy sneered, but didn't say anything else.

'Good fight.' Crabbe grunted.

Emerald raised an eyebrow. 'I assume your talking about me and Weasley.' Crabbe grunted again in confirmation.

'So then, Emerald. Why did you get sorted into Slytherin? I mean, I would've thought that you'd be a Gryffindor.'

Emerald shrugged. 'The Sorting Hat obviously decided that Slytherin was the best House for me. I didn't have a choice in the matter. Besides, I see little difference between the Houses. All that it serves to do is foster enmity and hatred between different members. What kind of society actually encourages that?'

Draco bristled. 'It's served the Wizarding world well enough for hundreds of years!'

Emerald raised an eyebrow. 'And nobody has taken in the consideration that the Wizarding world might have become stagnant in its views and policies? I mean, for God sake, us _Muggles _have become far more advanced than you.'

'But we have wands!'

'And we have guns. Which work well against wizards.'

'And how would you know that?'

'Because I've tried it. And it worked.'

There was a silence in the group as they all looked at Emerald interested.

'What do you mean by it worked?'

'As in our _illustraious _headmaster decided to kidnap me for _the Greater Good_. He had his precious Order come up against me and my friends. They had wands, we had guns. They had spells, we had bullets. We fired, they died. They fired, they knocked us out.'

'Hah-hah! That's exactly the problem then, if they had used killing curses, you would've easily been taken out.'

'Is that so? Tell me, what do you have to do exactly to use the killing curse?'

'Well, you just point the wand their way and say the words for the spell, why?'

'How long would that take, would you say? To do all that?'

Draco hesitated. 'Well, I suppose that it would take around two to five seconds, depending on how experienced you are with the spell, but why?'

'Okay, so you're sticking with a spell that can take up to five seconds to cast. I could use a semi-automatic Muggle pistol that can fire bullets rapidly. In the time that you used to cast your spell, I've could've potentially fired at least three bullets into your body. Another example, a sniper rifle. Some of us Muggles have even managed to get the weapon to aim up to a mile away. In order to use the killing curse, how far would you normally have to be away from your target?'

Draco's face was slightly pale now. 'Well…not far.'

'How far, Draco?'

He shrugged. 'Perhaps a few yards at the most? I'm not sure.'

'Exactly Draco. Now, how many wizards and witches would you say there are in England?'

'I think that there are around 18,000 Wizards and Witches.'

'All of them with wands?'

'Yeah.'

'In Muggle England alone, there are over 50 million of us. And I believe that there're around 10 million of them with weapons. Of course, I'm not taking into account the main weapons such as the Muggle armed forces. And of course, let's not forget about nuclear weapons. So in conclusion, Draco, should every wizard and witch in England go into a battle with the Muggles at once, they'd be pulverized.'

'But, but the Dark Lord will defeat them, he's doing it already!'

'You mean Velvetmort?' He ignored the gasps of shock from the group. 'Well, how many has he killed? An estimate.'

'Well, in just this war alone, I'd say that the Dark Lord and his followers have killed around a thousand Muggles.'

'Well, in the entire Muggle world, not just England, there's one person dying every second. That means that every hour, over 3,600 have died. In a full day, 80,000 have died. But we're not dying out, Draco. Our birth rate is more than our death rate. No matter how many your Dark Lord tries to kill, we're just going to keep expanding. And what happens when the Dark Lord is finally revealed to the Muggles? They're going to go after him, and in the process, they're going to go after the Wizarding world as well. Your Dark Lord is going to spell the end of your Wizarding world.' He looked up and saw the hot girl who had been sitting near him earlier. Her brunette friend had gone somewhere and she was currently on her own. 'My advice to you lot is to start living. Because if your "Dark Lord" wins, then everyone loses.'

He got up from his chair and walked towards the girl, ignoring his shocked companions behind him. He hoped that not everyone in Slytherin were like them, otherwise, it was going to make some very boring school years.

--

Emerald groaned as he pulled himself out of his bed-chambers. He wasn't used to beds like that. He missed his old bed. It may not have been in the best condition, but it was suited to his purposes. The constant years of sleeping in it had created the perfect imprint that relaxed his body completely. And he certainly wasn't happy having to share with other people.

As usual, he woke up at six in the morning. From what he knew of his conversation with Daphne Greengrass, the girl which whom he spoke to last night, breakfast started at Eight in the morning. That meant that he had an hour and a half to complete his exercises. Grabbing a T-shirt and some trousers, he left the Slytherin common room and left for the outside.

He sighed as he approached the lake. Around it was a large pathway. That would do for today. Just a simple jog all around the lake. As he set off, his mind set to his conversation with Daphne yesterday.

_Flashback_

_Emerald approached the beautiful girl as she sat on a chair, her legs folded underneath her as she skipped through a book. When Emerald sat on the chair next to her own, she raised an eyebrow with curiosity._

'_Yes, Emerald? Can I help you?'_

_Emerald raised his own eyebrow in return to hers. He was slightly surprised that at least someone had listened to him when he asked that he be called Emerald rather than Harry Potter._

'_I just thought I'd talk to you. You caught my interest.'_

'_Oh? And that's new how? I assure you, Emerald; I get plenty of "interest". And while I'll gladly admit that you have some quality on you,' she looked him up and down at that point, her mask remaining intact though. 'It does not mean that I will gladly jump into bed with you at the first chance. I would advise you use a Hufflepuff for that, they're so very amusing to toy with.' She smirked slightly._

'_I wouldn't know, but perhaps I will find that out this term. But enough of Hufflepuffs, I'm more interested in you.'_

_She smirked as she got off her seat and walked up a staircase. Emerald simply chuckled. He liked this one._

'_What's your name?' He called after her._

_She paused and looked at Emerald, smiling slightly. 'Daphne. Daphne Greengrass.'_

_Emerald grinned as he watched Daphne leave. She looked like quite a laugh. He'd have to get to know her a bit better._

_End Flashback_

Emerald suddenly broke off from his job as two pairs of hands grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him into the bush. Two identical twins glared at him with anger in their eyes. Emerald looked them up and down, and smirked as he remembered them as the pair that he had knocked down when he had been kidnapped.

'And what do you two want?'

One of them suddenly punched him in the stomach. Emerald looked at them, amused. How _weak_.

'Was that meant to hurt me?'

The other one suddenly punched Emerald in the mouth. Still no pain whatsoever. Emerald smirked.

'My turn now.'

Emerald suddenly leapt into action, one foot connecting with one twin's shin and a fist with the other twin's eye. Both collapsed to the floor, groaning in pain. Emerald sighed. This was quite pathetic. Emerald had quite enough of this and he let his full rage over having been kidnapped and dragged away from his friends boil over into him.

He snapped.

He started kicking them, punching them. He didn't let off them both for over five minutes. Finally, he stopped, his breath heavy as he looked at the damage done to the two twins. Both their faces were just one big blob of blood. At least three ribs had been broken between them, if not more. And as far as he could tell, one of the twin's had a broken leg. Emerald bent over them.

'You ever try and touch me again, then I promise you, what you just felt now will be nothing compared to what I do. You've seen me with my bare fists; just imagine what I'll be like with a weapon.' He turned on them, dismissively.

Not a bad start to the day.

After leaving the twins to their own devices, Emerald had just gotten back in time before the majority of Slytherin woke up from their beds. Just as he came out of the shower, he met a yawning Draco.

He nodded at Draco. 'Good morning, Draco.'

Draco grunted in a Crabbe and Goyle fashion, so Emerald noted in amusement. He looked nothing like he did yesterday. Gone was the slick, easy-looking Slytherin whose hair was usually perfect. Gone were the perfect features of yesterday. Instead, in front of him was a sleepy-looking ordinary teenager, with bags underneath his eyes and his hair all messed up.

As Draco passed him into the showers and Emerald had gotten dressed in his usual Muggle clothes, he continued downstairs to the common room. Suddenly, he saw Daphne.

'Hey Daphne.'

She looked at him without any emotion. 'What do you want now, Emerald? To try fuck me?'

Emerald smirked. 'Well, if you're offering.'

Her eyes, recently blank suddenly burst into fiery orbs. Her anger was clearly aroused. 'Is that all you see me as, Emerald? A fuck toy? Just like every other fucking male in this school? I'm not anyone's toy, Emerald. I'm myself. And I'm telling you now, Emerald, if you dare come up to me again, I swear that I'll fucking castrate you myself!'

Emerald raised his hands in submission. 'Easy there, Daphne. Christ, I'm not like that. Well, I am, but I'm not to you. Seriously, Daphne, you're attractive, yeah, but I'm not actually looking for a relationship. Or even for just a fuck! Look, I just came to Hogwarts unwillingly and basically, the only person who's even bothered to talk to me is Draco. Look, I promise that I'm not after you as a fuck-buddy. Is there any way that you'll believe me?'

Daphne looked at Emerald curiously, her head cocked to one side as though examining him in a new light. She had to admit, she was curious about this Emerald. From what she could tell from him, he clearly had trouble with the headmaster and the rest of the authorities. In addition, he was clearly good in a physical fight, although she knew that he would be weak against magical attacks. However, from what she had seen of him so far, he had already cultivated allies in both Gryffindor and Slytherin, from some of the best connected people around.

Parvati and Lavender were both known as the gossip queens of not just Gryffindor, but the whole school. The pair alone had been responsible for uncovering half the scandals that occurred in schools, and they probably contributed a great deal to the other half as well. One word from them, and they could potentially bring down a student.

And then there was Malfoy. She didn't know his game, but she did know that he was having troubles at home with his Death Eater father. While she had gotten the impression that he was nothing more than a carbon copy of his father, she had realized that last year, during his third year, he was clearly rethinking everything he'd been told. And he didn't like the results. But even so, his family connections expanded into pureblood society, which was critical for anyone who wanted to do well in the Wizarding world, particularly in politics. Hardly anyone could get a good position in the Ministry of Magic unless they had the support of the purebloods. It was why it was always the purebloods that were in power. And that was why society and the Wizarding world as a whole were stagnant.

Oh, she'd realised that a long time ago. But what she also knew was that Dumbledore was trying to combat this by removing all the purebloods. But Daphne, if nothing else, was able to see the long-term plan. What Dumbledore intended on doing was removing _all_ the purebloods, not just Death Eaters, but the Wizarding World as a whole. And that would be disastrous for all. Without them, society would be uprooted and new ethics and morals would come in, and that was a factor of unpredictability. Purebloods represented the days of the Founders, and tradition. Without it, anything could happen. It could even lead to the worst possible scenario possible, the revealing of the Wizarding world to the Muggles.

She decided on a decision. If her studies of Dumbledore were correct, then he was clearly planning on using the boy-who-lived as a political power for the "light" side. Of course, Emerald would never accept that willingly, but while she knew that Emerald could be a power, he was still extremely vulnerable to suggestions and implants put in his mind by Dumbledore. She could help, and if Emerald was actually telling the truth in not wanting her for sex, but as a friend, then she could accept it.

'Alright, Emerald. I will accept on one condition.'

Emerald nodded. 'State your terms and conditions.'

'I want you to swear a magical oath.'

'A what?'

'It basically means that if your lying you start to lose your magic, and slowly, but surely, your life. It's drastic, but it's sure as hell effective.'

Emerald nodded slowly. 'Well, what are the conditions?'

'That at this moment, you are not trying to get to know me to either have sexual intercourse or to try and date me. Only to become friends.'

Emerald nodded again. 'Acceptable, so what do I have to do?'

'Just say, "on my magic, I do swear it."'

'Alright then. On my magic, I swear that I, Emerald, also known as Harry James Potter, swear upon my magic that I am not befriending Daphne Greengrass in order to seduce her into having sexual intercourse with myself, nor to try and date her, but am only doing so to become friends with her. I do swear it upon my magic.'

Emerald waited for something to happen. He looked at Daphne, a little scared. 'Is that it?'

Daphne nodded. 'Had you been lying, we would've known that you were losing your magic.' She smiled at him. 'So then, _friend_, shall we go to breakfast?'

She stood up and walked away out of the Slytherin common room, followed closely by Emerald. However, she didn't go the way to the Great Hall.

'Uh, Daphne? I don't think that this is the way to the Great Hall…'

Daphne looked at him, smirking a little. 'Emerald, I saw your face yesterday when all that food appeared. Just like me, you thought that it was disgusting. Right?'

Emerald shrugged. 'Well, yeah. I mean, there's no healthy food whatsoever. How the hell are wizards meant to learn to keep their bodies healthy when they eat all that junk? Look at Ron Weasley! His clothes are practically bursting at the seams thanks to all the food that he eats.'

Daphne smirked at that, her eyes showing some amusement.

'So, where are we actually going?'

Daphne stopped in front of a portrait of a bowl of fruit. She grinned at Emerald. 'Well, Emerald, where else would be better to get healthy food than the kitchens itself?' She turned to the portrait and tickled the pear. The portrait suddenly swung inwards, revealing a massive kitchen.

Several creatures turned at the opening of the door, and a huge smile broke out on their faces. 'Mistress Greengrass!' One of them called out, approaching the two of them. 'We has missed you greatly while you were away. Do you wish for your usual breakfast, Mistress Greengrass?'

Daphne smiled at the strange little creatures. 'Biggles, this is my special friend, Emerald. Is it possible that you could make the same breakfast for him as you do for me?'

The strange creature nodded rapidly. 'Yes, yes, of course Mistress Greengrass! We'd be happy to serve!' It clapped its hands, scattering some of the strange creatures to different areas of the kitchen. 'Will you be wanting your usual place, Mistress Greengrass?'

She nodded. 'With an extra place set at the table for my good friend Emerald here.'

'As you command, Mistress Greengrass.'

As the strange creature ran towards a table, followed closely by Daphne, who easily kept up with the small steps of the creature. Emerald followed behind the pair, looking all around the kitchens. There were at least fifty of the creatures! All of them working with food. There was some working the ovens, others creating bread and others just making foods before placing them in the ovens!

Emerald sat down, uneasily, at the end of the table as Daphne sat at the opposite end. Seeing Emerald's face, she smiled slightly.

'Have you never heard of House Elves, Emerald?'

'House what?'

'House Elves. They serve wizards and witches. They're completely loyal, and will complete a task to the best of their ability. Sadly, due to their nature, they're very much looked down upon, and are often mistreated by many.' She smiled sadly. 'However, my family does not do this. We appreciate our House Elves as they have served my family for many years.' Emerald nodded, just as a House Elf ran up to Daphne and Emerald with a platter full of food. Emerald gaped as he saw the massive amount of food available. Apple and blueberry muffins, ham and egg omelettes, yogurt, Belgian Waffles, sweet potatoes and more!

Daphne smirked at the look on his face. 'Amazing what they can do, isn't it? All you have to do is ask them to do anything for you, and they'll do it! They love doing stuff for wizards and witches. They just can't say no!' She grinned as another House Elf served her food. Emerald shook his head at the House Elf who came to serve him, and simply took his own food from the platter.

--

Emerald walked through the crowd of people, all of them wandering into shops, hanging out with friends or just messing around. Emerald, however, was on his own. He just wanted the chance to explore the area without being dragged off someplace by either Daphne or Malfoy.

He'd enjoyed hanging with Daphne. The girl was a laugh. You told her a joke, she'd get it immediately. She knew most of the secret passages in the school, and she knew who was a major political player in the school. Already, her bright wit had shown him that he had already made several allies with Parvati and Lavender, the two gossip queens, and with Malfoy, who had inroads to the Death Eaters, even though his loyalties were suspect.

The teachers weren't too bad either. The only problem had been that he was stuck doing First Year work. It was humiliating to say the least.

_Flashback_

_Professor Flitwick was busy teaching him as many spells on his own as possible. Although he constantly looked at Emerald's tattoo every so often, he was a good teacher, and he seemed to treat him the same as every other student he had in his class._

_Professor McGonagall was a bitch, to say the least. Of course, his insulting her in the Great Hall, and severely beating the Weasley might not have helped much. Still, he deserved it! He dared to touch Emerald. That meant that he had to pay. She'd constantly ignored him, and only acknowledged him during the register. Still, she hadn't persisted in giving him detention or took off points from him, so he guessed that either Snape or Dumbledore had changed her mind, somehow._

_Of course, Defence Against the Dark Arts was a laugh. A weird old guy called Professor Moody taught the class, and according to his Slytherin classmates, he was very much better than his predecessors. Apparently he had taught the "Unforgiveable" curses to Daphne and Malfoy. That meant that potential magical __spells that he could have used had been banned. Still, as far as he knew, there was nothing said against Muggle methods of torture and killing._

_His head of House, Snape, was pretty neutral as well. Although at the feast he had given Emerald several looks of loathing, after beating Weasley into submission, he had been in a good mood ever since. During Potions, when Weasley had tried to cause trouble by throwing something into his cauldron, Snape had caught Weasley in the act, and had taken away points and put him in detention._

_End Flashback_

In all, it had been a very boring week. There had been nothing to do during the night, and fuck-all to do during the day as well. More than ever, he missed the gang. He just wanted to go back home to his friends, where he didn't have to deal with fame and where he didn't have to fight illusions of himself caused by stories told about him.

Suddenly, he was stopped by a figure. Emerald looked up and his mouth gaped in shock. There, standing before him, was Shell!

She smirked at him.

'Hello, Emerald.'


	8. Shell?

Harry Potter and the Forced Hero

**Harry Potter and the Forced Hero**

Emerald stood there, completely shocked at the sight of Shell. How in the name of the God's had she made it into Hogsmede? He knew for a fact that Muggles couldn't get into wizarding villages. It was impossible! But somehow Shell had come here! His mouth opened and closed in shock. Shell, although there seemed to be a tense look on her face, smirked slightly, sitting back on a bench, putting her feet along its length as she waited for Emerald to recover.

'But – but how? How are you here? You're a Muggle, how did you…'

Shell chuckled at the look on Emerald's face. 'God, it was worth getting on the Knight Bus to get to Hogs-bloody-med just to see your face.' She laughed at his expression, still shocked. 'Oh come on Emerald, what's wrong now? Aren't you pleased to see widdle-old-me?' She pouted slightly.

Emerald shook his head in shock. 'But how did you get here? You're a Muggle?'

Shell shook her head. 'Nope, but I might as well be one. You're talking to the number one greatest Squib that ever existed or ever shall exist in the present, past and future.' She winked happily at Emerald.

'A- a what?'

'A Squib. You know…?'

Emerald shook his head.

Shell rolled her eyes. 'Don't they teach you anything at that school these days?'

Emerald shook his head again. 'Shell, its bloody Hogwarts. They've forced me to come here without my agreement. The only reason I'm here is so I can try and get away. And again, how did you get here? What is a Squib? And do you have a room we can go to?'

Shell raised an eyebrow at the last question.

Emerald shrugged, unapologetic. 'Well, I have been "saving" myself for you. Haven't even caused any trouble with the girl population at the school. Although the way that some of them look at me, it's scary at times.' He shuddered.

Shell smirked. 'I have little doubt about that. To be honest, I find it quite surprising that you haven't taken any "bed partners". I would've thought you'd be on all the girls like an ant on sugar.'

Emerald raised an eyebrow. 'Ah, how I've missed your remarkable innuendoes my dear Shell. How I've missed your frank wit and marvellous voice.'

Shell glared at Emerald. 'And I've missed your sarcasm. Seriously though, how come you haven't taken any girls? Judging from the looks of most of the guys here, they're actually nothing compared to you.'

Emerald chuckled lightly. 'As true as that is, I'd rather not go with any of these girls. I mean, the world that they live in is way too different from ours. For all I know, I could be forced into a marriage by Dumbles or their parents'

Shells' face frowned at the name of Dumbledore. 'How are things going with him?'

Emerald shrugged. 'To be honest, Shell, I hate it here. Dumbledore has basically forced me to become a symbol of the Wizarding world. That's just put me in deep shit with several people. From what I've heard in Slytherin, there's a lot of Death Eaters who'd just love to get their filthy hands on me for somehow killing their master. I don't even know what happened that night! But seriously, stop trying to distract me. How did you get here? And what is a Squib?'

Shell sighed. 'A Squib is like a wizard, except we don't have magical powers. We can use Wizard stuff, and items that are intended for wizards work for us as well, it's just that we can't manipulate magic into doing stuff like wizards and witches. Squibs come about normally from when wizards have children. Sometimes, for some reason we just don't have that magical ability. The sad thing is that most of us come from pureblood families and are hated because we don't have magical ability. That's why most of us leave for the wizarding world as soon as possible.'

Emerald struggled to comprehend what Shell was saying. Parents actually gave up their children in the wizarding world just because they had no magical ability? What kind of sick fuckers would do something like that?

'So then, does that mean that you belonged to a family who did that to you?'

Shell nodded mournfully. 'Yeah, I was once part of this really pureblood family who were a whole lot of dickheads. Their family went back for centuries, and they hated Muggleborn wizards and witches. They're basically racist. Of course, you can imagine their response to when they found out I had no magical ability whatsoever. Can you imagine the shock and anger when they found out that a daughter of the magnificent Malfoy family had no magical ability? They threw me out of their house and into the Muggle world, telling me to never return. That was when luckily I found the gang.'

'Hang on; you were part of the Malfoy family?'

Shell nodded.

'Do you know a Draco Malfoy?'

She nodded again looking a bit confused now. 'Yeah, he was my brother.'

'Well, I've kinda become allies with him…' he winced, anticipating a smack around the head from Shell. The girl had a hard hit; even Emerald feared her wrath at times.

Shell simply stood there, her mind working like mad. After what seemed to be an eternity of Emerald waiting for the inevitable blow, she nodded in satisfaction. 'You made a good choice, Emerald. From what contact I've had with a contact in Hogwarts, Draco is quite a power in Slytherin.'

Emerald, if he wasn't before, was now absolutely flummoxed. 'But…but…how?'

Shell winked. 'I used to have some friends before I was cast out of my home. I still keep in contact with them whenever I can.'

Emerald shook his head in shock. 'Shell, I have no idea how you do it.' Shell giggled slightly as Emerald pushed her feet away from the length of the bench, sitting himself next to her.

'So who is this contact then?'

Shell smiled. 'Daphne Greengrass.'

Emerald just stared at her, his face completely blank now. This was getting too much to handle. First, it turned out that Shell was a Squib, and now Daphne was a friend of Shell? Was he high or something?

'So, how much does Daphne know about me?'

'She knows that you're a womanizer and you like to sleep around with no strings attached. And she told me all about your magical oath that you vowed.' She suddenly slapped him around the head. 'That was for risking your life for a stupid thing.'

Emerald rubbed his head as he thought things through. 'So, was that why she was really hostile to me when I talked to her earlier?'

'Yeah basically.'

'Oh…I did wonder why she was so hostile when I hadn't even done anything to her yet.'

'Yeah.'

'So, how did you actually get here? You never explained that yet.'

'I came here on the Knight Bus that just helps stranded wizards and witches, or as I prefer to think of it, anyone who has magical blood in them.'

'And, why are you here?'

Shell's face suddenly crumpled as some tears dropped from her eyes. Emerald rushed to hug her as she collapsed into tears.

'What is it? What's wrong?' His heart was beating now with worry. Shell never broke down for anything. Only once had he seen her cry, and he had sworn to never speak of it again.

She wiped her tears and looked at him, her eyes red and puffy. 'Emerald, I've got nowhere else to go...'

Emerald looked at her confused. 'What do you mean? The gang, surely they-'

'The gang is gone, Emerald! We don't have anyone left!'

Emerald stared at her incredulously. 'What…what the fuck are you talking about?' He clutched her hard by her shoulders, staring deep into her eyes.

'The gang, Emerald, we got attacked.'

Emerald released his tight grip on his shoulders, not noticing her wince as she continued to explain what had happened, just a load of background noise to Emerald.

'The gang was attacked by two allied rival gangs. Most of our ammo was used against the wizards who attacked us, and most of us were still unconscious. It was only me, Rick and another twelve of us who were conscious. We tried to defend ourselves, but we were outnumbered, so outnumbered…they stormed through the building, killing anyone they found. Even if they were unconscious, they got a bullet through the head. They didn't spare anyone…me, Rick and another nine of us fought literally back to back against them. We fought our way to the chute where we put it as an emergency escape route. The other four made it down there, but me and Rick were surrounded by at least twenty of them, Rick pushed me down the chute…I waited at the bottom, but he didn't come back. All I heard were gunshots, before they suddenly stopped. we…we wanted to go back, but I didn't…I was scared, Emerald, I was so scared.' More tears dripped from her eyes. 'I ran Emerald. I just ran. I was a coward…' She visibly collapsed into his arms, sobbing her eyes out. 'We're all in the village now, Emerald. All of them are confused and don't know what's happening, but I don't know what to do! You were the only person I could think of who could help us out of this shit.'

The two of them remained like that, Shell clutching onto Emerald, while he simply sat there, staring over Shell's shoulder. His face was completely blank, no emotion was shown whatsoever. He had always been this way, for as long as he could remember. Showing emotions was something he discouraged; it gave away too much as far as he was concerned. It made him weak.

What else could he do…?

It was many hours before Emerald shifted his position, Shell reluctantly removing her arms from Emerald. During all of that time, they spent holding each other for comfort. Most of the gang, destroyed? How the hell had things gone to hell? Fucking Dumbledore, it was his entire fault. Never more than ever had he felt so much hatred for Dumbledore. Rick, one of his most trusted friends, a person who he could count on to follow him to hellgates and back. Dead. So many of them, dead. He turned to Shell, his face still not showing any emotion whatsoever.

'Shell, where are the survivors currently based?'

Shell pointed down the street. 'They're just down in the town; they've taken refuge in a alleyway. We've constructed our barricades and shelter, but we can be ready to move at a moment's notice, whatever you want us to do.' She looked at Emerald, her eyes slightly puffy.

'Alright, I think that we'll have to do some things that disgust's me to my very core. We're going to have to go to Dumbledore.'

Shell looked at Emerald in surprise. 'Dumbledore? But why?'

'There's something going on called the Triwizard Tournament this year. Apparently there're other schools taking part in it. We can convince Dumbledore that the reminder of the gang can be passed off as another school. He believes himself to be the leader of the light, all great, so we should be able to make him feel suitably guilty for the deaths of all those people.'

Her eyes widened. 'The Triwizard Tournament? But Daphne told me that it was really dangerous and there used to be at least one death every tournament. It was banned like hundreds of years ago as well. Even if we could convince Dumbledore of this, surely it would be too dangerous for us? We don't even have magic!'

'We don't need magic. From what I can see, the Wizarding world is stagnate, they've hardly updated their spells since the late 1800's, surely not enough to deal with Muggle weapons. Equip our champion with proper guns, none of those shitty little handpieces that we've forced to make do with, and we could take over the school probably!'

'But what money do we have to pay for that? I certainly have none, or I would've used it earlier for the gang.'

Emerald paused. 'Well, I can hardly believe that my parents didn't have any money before they got killed. I'd have to find out about that, but I'm sure that we could make do, even if we have to use whatever we have now. What do you have anyway?'

Shell shrugged. 'We only have around a few guns; we didn't get much from the ganghouse after the gangs had pillaged it. We got a few hand pistols, but nothing major.'

Emerald frowned. 'Well, we'll have to wait and see, won't we? Now, I think that we should go and see Dumbledore. Do you want to come with me?'

Shell nodded. 'Do you want to see the gang first? I really think that it would be a good idea for them to know that you're here. And we could get some weapons, just in case. I wouldn't put it past any of them to attack me if they knew that I was a Squib.'

Emerald growled slightly. 'I would kill anyone who dared try. No one hurts anyone under my protection, least of all you.'

Shell smiled at him. 'I know you would Emerald, and that's why I hang around with you.'

'It's nice to know I count for so much with you.' Emerald said dryly.

Shell hit Emerald on his arm. 'You know what I meant.' She nodded down the street. 'You coming or what?'

--

Emerald staggered back to Hogwarts, followed by Shell. The gang, when they had seen him as a whole rushed him, cheering that he had returned and asking what they were going to do. It had been heart wrenching really to see kids just the age of 11 on the streets, some of them obviously wounded. He had winced at the sight of one person with a bullet wound in his leg. He'd known that it would be bad when he'd seen them, but he hadn't thought it would be that bad. Out of the nine gang members assembled, at least three of them had wounds; he didn't know who else was hiding any wounds. When you lived on the streets, it wasn't wise to show any signs of weaknesses. It was a policy that apparently the gang members were intent on keeping.

It appeared that the rest of the school who had been at Hogsmede had returned quite a while ago, as there had been no sign of any of them as he and Shell made their way back to Hogwarts. The gates were open, so Emerald presumed that they were only open for him. To be quite honest, he was surprised that the headmaster hadn't sent out his precious Order after him.

Although, knowing his luck, they probably were following him, and had already informed Dumbledore of where he had been. If so, that could screw up his plans badly. Still, it wasn't looking likely that they had followed him. Emerald hadn't heard any trace of anyone following either him or Shell, and Shell was just as good, if not more, at knowing when she was being followed.

As they passed the gates and moved towards the entrance, the gates closed behind them, and seemingly of their own will, the doors to the castle opened, but no one was behind them. Emerald looked at Shell nervously, who herself didn't seem too concerned. Instead, she fingered her Baby Eagle that she discretely kept in her pocket, ready to whip it out and fire at any potential targets.

To add to that affect, Shell had really dressed herself up. Wearing a miniskirt and a tank top, she was dressed to impress. And divert attention to particular areas of her body away from the most dangerous areas. It was amazing just how many people she had put down by doing that. And it was very hard to resist as well, it was enough to get nearly any man drooling at the sight of her. In short, she was beautiful.

As they entered the Entrance Hall, Emerald saw no sign of any students, but he could hear clearly a lot of people inside the Great Hall. It must be dinner time for them. Odd, he didn't feel hungry at all. He looked at Shell.

'I reckon that they must be inside the Great Hall. It's extremely likely that Dumbledore will be there as well, eating with the rest of them.'

Shell shrugged. 'What's the plan then?'

'Well, I know that we were planning on making a quiet entrance up to Dumbledore's office, but then, what's wrong with a little show?' he smirked at Shell, who smirked back.

'Straight through the Hall then?'

'Absolutely. It also gives me a chance to show you off.'

'Ah, so I'm a trophy for you to show off then, am i?'

Emerald glared at her. 'You know, you always do this.'

Shell had a innocent look on her face. 'Do what, my dear Emerald?'

'You bloody well know what.'

'Why, I have no idea what you're on about, Emerald, and I do believe that we are just wasting time now.'

Emerald, muttering under his breath, gestured Shell to follow him and opened the doors to the Great Hall.

The pair of them stalked side by side into the Great Hall, making their way towards the teachers table. Both their faces set to expressionless mode, neither of them were willing to show their emotions just yet.

The students in the Hall didn't notice at first, but as Emerald and Shell passed them by, more and more faces looked their way, the girls looked with envy at Shell, and the boys stared with shock and lust at Shell. Shell ignored the looks that went her way, her face remaining emotionless. Whispers broke out in their wake, as the teachers finally noticed their presence as they continued their way towards Dumbledore.

McGonagall and the other teachers looked shocked, McGonagall in particular looking scandalised at the clothes that Shell was wearing. Snape on the other hand merely raised an eyebrow in mild surprise. And Dumbledore…his damn eyes were still twinkling? Was there nothing that could stop them? It was bloody annoying! Still, he did look slightly surprised at the sight of Shell standing there. The two of them stopped in front of Dumbledore.

Emerald spoke first. 'Dumbledore, a word, if you please.' He said it as a statement, not as a question.

'Yes, of course my dear boy.' He rose onto his feet and walked towards a door to the left of the teacher's table.

Emerald sneered at the back of Dumbledore, and nodding to Shell, both of them followed Dumbledore, both of them lovingly fingering their weapons.

Inside the room was a little fireplace along with several chairs in front of the fire. Dumbledore had sat himself comfortably in one of the chairs with his legs folded and his eyes watching the pair of them, still twinkling. Emerald and Shell sat themselves down nervously in the chairs.

An uncomfortable silence broke out for a few minutes before Dumbledore finally broke it. 'So then, Harry, my dear boy, what seems to be the problem with you and your charming friend here?'

Emerald scowled at the use of his name while Shell glared at him.

'Dumbledore,' Shell started. 'Before we tell you what we want, allow me to tell you a little story. If you would indulge me of course?'

Dumbledore smiled at Shell. 'But of course, my dear.'

'Not more than a week ago, Dumbledore, my friend here, Emerald, was happily living his life in peace with me and all his friends. It wasn't a hard life, it was one that none of us would ever give up. However, that night he was kidnapped by several people who wanted him for purposes of their own. Without even giving him the choice, they attacked Emerald and his friends, including me, and stunned them all with spells that would've put them out for several days. However, the next night, many of us were still stunned. That was when we were attacked by enemies.'

Her eyes hardened. 'They attacked us, only I and a few others were conscious. They killed Emerald's friends, because of you.' Her voice had risen by now. 'Because of you, over forty people died because of your actions! Now, there's another nine of us still alive and are in the streets in Hogsmede. Because of you, most of them are wounded. Because of you, if they don't get help, at least a further three of us will die. Because of you, we have lost everything!'

Dumbledore's eyes had stopped twinkling slightly, although there still was a slight presence. By now, Shell had more tears running down her eyes, and her face was twisted with fury.

'I…I see.' Dumbledore's voice was subdued. 'What exactly do you want of me?'

Shell looked at Emerald, before turning back to Dumbledore. 'This year the Triwizard tournament is taking place. There's at least another two schools coming this year, we want to include what's left of us within these schools. We want to be entered as our own individual school for just a year.'

Dumbledore's brow frowned. 'But my dear, if I was to do that, then you'd have to take part in the tournament, and you don't have any magic. And I hardly doubt that you would be allowed in anyway.'

Emerald spoke up now. 'Dumbledore, we've clearly proven that our weapons can more than match magic. The casualties you took clearly prove that. And nowhere in the rules of the Triwizard tournament does it say that Muggles can't take part in the tournament.' Emerald took a guess on this, hoping that it was true. Apparently by the look on Dumbledore's face it was true.

'Well yes, that is true, but I last time we encountered Muggle weapons, we were not prepared for it.'

'Yes, and I hardly think that whatever we'd face will be prepared for Muggle weapons either.'

Dumbledore frowned, before speaking again. 'Well, if I did agree to this, what would I actually get out of this?'

Emerald shrugged. 'Well, it's painfully staking clear that your severaly against me being in Slythein. The way I see it, if my friends came here as a separate school, I could join them and be out of Slytherin for an entire year.'

Dumbledore smiled slightly. 'Well…' He hesitated. 'I suppose that it could be done if I use my influence at the Ministry.' He turned to Shell. 'Tell me, my dear, can you and your friends be ready to enter Hogwarts tomorrow?'

She nodded. 'But there's the case of several of us with wounds. We sadly don't have any doctors amongst us. We don't have any money either to get food or shelter with.'

Dumbledore smiled. 'I can send our healer down to you, although I can't guarantee how good she is with bullets, I don't believe she's had much experience with them. But it's the best we can do for you. In addition, can I assume you can get to Gringotts bank, Miss Malfoy?'

Shell didn't show any surprise at the use of her name, but nodded. 'That's correct, Dumbledore. I can easily make it there.'

'Well, if I give you a key to one of my vaults, you can trtake out as much as you like and use it for shelter and food.'

Shell smiled at him gratefully. 'That would of the greatest help you could provide for me, Dumbledore.'

Dumbledore chuckled. 'Very well my dear,' he fiddled around in his pockets before he pulled out a key and handed it to Shell. 'Just give it to one of the Goblins and they'll lead you to the vault.'

He rose to his feet. 'Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go find Madam Pomfrey and she'll find you and your friends. I'd get there as soon as possible; Miss. Malfoy and you'll meet her there pretty soon.'

Shell and Emerald also rose to their feet. 'Thank you, Dumbledore.' Emerald said politely. While Dumbledore was a dickhead, at least he was being helpful to his friends. And he got to be with Shell for an entire year!

Dumbledore left the room, followed by Shell and Emerald. As soon as they had gone outside of the room, they realised that Dumbledore had somehow disappeared, leaving the two of them in plain sight of most of the school, who despite the meal having finished a while ago, had chosen to remain in their seats to see what was happening.

Shell rolled her eyes as both she and Emerald walked down the centre of the Hall, side by side and both of them grinning. In the Entrance Hall, both of them stopped by the door, which had opened for Shell. A few curious students clustered around the staircases, pretending to not be watching avidly Emerald and Shell together.

'So then, I guess that I'll see you soon, right?' Emerald asked, his voice filled with longing.

'Tomorrow, I promise.' Shell murmured, looking into Emerald's eyes.

'You better,' Emerald murmured back before kissing Shell deeply as though he wouldn't see her for a while.

Shell, after several minutes, broke off finally and smirked at Emerald. 'Told you that you couldn't resist me.'

'Wha-' Emerald suddenly recalled the night before he had been kidnapped, and he smirked at her. 'Whatever. Get outta here.'

Shell chuckled. 'I'll get us some equipment when I've got money and turned it into Muggle money.'

Emerald grinned. 'The big guns?'

Shell winked. 'The big guns.' She waved as she turned and walked back to Hogsmede.

Emerald sighed as he turned back, only to be confronted with Malfoy.

'What the hell are you doing with my sister, Potter?'

**Ooo, cliffy! Just what is Malfoy's reaction to Emerald and Shell? How will he cope with the re-emergence of his sister? Has he really changed, or is he still the same old Malfoy we all know and love/hate?**

**And just how will Emerald and the gang destroy Hogwarts with their big guns? Find out next time in Harry Potter and the Forced Hero!**


	9. Rewrite in Progress

Harry Potter and the forced hero

**Harry Potter and the forced hero**

**Hey guys, I'd just thought I'd let all of you know that I'm in the process of rewriting this story. I've just posted the first chapter anew under a different story on my profile. So I really hope that you all read it and review it. Explanations will be on the other story.**

**So anyway, I hope that you all read it.**

**Peace out, Kaeim.**


End file.
